When Love Takes Over
by Amulet Misty
Summary: Rima has found out that she has feelings for Nagihiko. But only one problem, he's dating someone else, and even worse it's her best-friend, Amu. Will Rima be able to control her feelings? Or will love take over? Complete.
1. A New Relationship

**A/N: Tadaa! Hey guys, this is my first Rimahiko story. Yes, it will end Rimahiko, and I told you so that you won't be dissapointed by reading a story that won't end the way you like. I hope you like my story!**

**Dedication: Vi-chan, who is an awesome friend, writer, and loves Rimahiko.**

**Happy Birthday!**

**I do not own Shugo Chara!**

**Edit: I had to put in new page breaks because fanfiction removed my previous ones =.=**

* * *

Chapter 1 - A New Relationship

Rima surveyed the assortment of gag manga before her eyes. _Where is it?_, she thought, as Kusu-Kusu giggled at her. Then she spotted it behind the earlier volume of the series. Someone must have tried to hide it and come back to buy it later. Hah, too bad! She was going to buy it anyway. She hurriedly grabbed the latest issue of the manga from the shelf and dashed to the counter.

She bought the manga and started walking back home. Her parents had finally decided that they didn't need to always pick Rima up, and that she was old enough to take care of herself.

In a few minutes she would be happily reading her manga.

Just as she arrived home she heard a beep sound from her pocket. She took out her phone and flipped it open. It was a text message from Amu. It read:

_Meet me in the park in ten minutes! I have something important to tell you! :D_

Rima's face lit up and she threw her manga into her room and raced to the park.

"Hey Rima," Amu said when the petite girl arrived.

"Hi," Rima replied smiling.

"Let's sit down! This is going to take a long time to tell," said Amu, giggling uncharacteristically to herself. Her charas exchanged excited looks.

_I wonder what Amu is going to tell me, _Rima thought.

They sat down on the park bench. Their charas grouped together in the air and began chatting.

"You'll never believe what happened to me," said Amu. "Guess what?"

Rima pretended to look thoughtful. "You bought me a lifetime supply of gag manga?" asked Rima hopefully.

Amu giggled and shook her head. She suddenly turned nervous.

She took a deep breath and said, "Well I just thought since you're my best friend...I should tell you first...and well...I just became Nagihiko's girlfriend." She was smiling happily, waiting for Rima's reaction.

Rima stared at her best friend, gaping as her brain exploded. _Nagihiko was Amu's boyfriend._How? They were normal best friends a few days ago when Rima was with them and now they're suddenly boyfriend and girlfriend? _They are boyfriend and girlfriend? _No matter how many times she repeated this in her mind it just didn't want to register in her brain and she had no idea why. Amu had been smiling a lot less ever since _he _left and now she was smiling ten times wider than ever. Rima should be extremely happy for Amu, and she was. _But what's this bad feeling I'm having? _thought Rima.

"Rima?" said Amu in a worried tone, since Rima was staring into space and wasn't answering.

"Oh –I –wow Amu! I'm so happy for you. How did it happen?" she asked, shaking off the feeling and now waiting for Amu to tell her the whole story.

"Well, remember yesterday the three of us were going to go shopping together," said Amu.

Rima had a dentist appointment so she couldn't come with them. Nagihiko was grinning at her mockingly and she shot glares at him in return.

"After we were done, Nagihiko wanted to walk me home. So we were just talking as usual and then he said, 'you're smiling now. You haven't been smiling lately.'" Amu had a glazed look on her face as she remembered the moment.

"I realized I actually haven't and I said, 'Only because I'm with you.'" Her face turned pink.

"It just suddenly slipped out, and he was staring at me. And well he told me that he liked it when I smiled and he liked everything about me. And then it hit me that he was my best friend and it's easy to talk to him. I'm always happy when he's around and I told him I liked him, as more than just a friend. But I only said all those things because of _somebody_."

Amu glared meaningfully at Ran. "Then he said he liked me too...so...we decided that we would try dating...and stuff."

"That sounded like it was amazing," said Rima, knowing how Amu really liked that kind of stuff. Amu must have been jumping for joy when she got home.

Amu nodded fervently. "He was really sweet," she said, sighing happily.

"That was really romantic of him," agreed Rima. "I didn't know he had it in him. But he did spend time as a girl after all, so he must have learnt some tips from all that time," said Rima, with a small smirk.

Nagihiko had finally got the courage to tell Amu that he was Nadeshiko about two months ago, Amu was shocked, but they laughed about it later on.

Amu frowned. "Can you try to be nicer to him now? I mean, well, he _is_ my boyfriend..." she muttered.

Rima sighed. If it was anyone else she would have refused immediately, but for Amu she would try not to tease Nagihiko.

"Alright," said Rima.

Amu grinned widely and gave Rima a quick hug. "Thank you! I'm going home, my Okaa-san is making her specialty, and later I have to call Yaya about this."

Rima grinned and said, "She'll be screaming through the phone."

They laughed at the thought since it was positively going to happen. Amu waved at Rima as she headed home.

Rima looked around the park. Evening had fallen and it was getting darker. She walked back home too.

"It's a really good thing to happen to Amu," she said to Kusu-Kusu, once she had jumped onto her bed, ready to sleep.

Kusu-Kusu giggled, which Rima took to be a 'yes, it's definitely a good thing!'.

She watched her chara go back into her egg and then clicked the lights off. She lay down in her silent bedroom for while. Usually she would be able to fall asleep as soon as her head touched the pillow, but too many thoughts were swimming around her head.

Just now, when Amu told her that Nagihiko was her boyfriend, she definitely felt something, only she didn't know what. It was a bad feeling, she was sure of that. _Or maybe I was just shocked. I didn't expect that from Amu at all, _she thought. She was satisfied at the answer she came up with and fell asleep, because it was just shock, that's all.

**XOXOXO**

Rima walked through the crowd of students, trying to find Amu. The sea of students no longer parted as they did when they were in elementary school. Now they were in their second year of middle school. Rima and the other former-guardians of her year still held some respect from the other students, though they were no longer treated like royalty.

"Queen Mashiro, I love you," Rima heard someone call out. They still had to deal with what was left of the crazy and obsessed fans, though.

Rima entered the classroom and sat down in her seat, noticing that Amu's seat was still empty. _Late as always_, Rima thought to herself, smiling slightly. One minute before class started, Amu walked in, though she wasn't alone.

She was holding hands with her new boyfriend, Nagihiko. Rima stared at them, completely unprepared for this. She knew that they were dating, Amu had definitely told her about that the day before, but seeing them hold hands like that made it feel like she just found out, like everyone else in the class. The whole room went silent as they stared at Amu Hinamori, former Joker, giggling at the side of Nagihiko Fujisaki, the former Jack. Whispers emerged and spread across the room like wild-fire. Rima was used to whispering but for some reason this time it annoyed her.

She saw Amu blush and let go of Nagihiko's hand, making her way next to Rima.

"Hi, Rima," greeted Amu, taking out her books for the first class.

"Hi," Rima greeted in return.

"Good Morning, Rima-chan," said Nagihiko, whose place was in front of Amu.

Rima didn't reply, like most times when Nagihiko said 'hi' to her.

"I said, 'Good Morning'," he repeated, with a small smirk on his face.

Right...Rima had agreed to be nicer to Nagihiko. Amu had obviously told him. Rima glanced sideways at Amu, who shrugged with an apologetic smile. Rima sighed.

"Good Morning, Nagihiko," she said, avoiding eye contact with him.

"It's rude to not look at people when they're talking to you," Nagihiko said in a would-be matter-of-fact tone.

Rima looked up reluctantly at Nagihiko and stared straight into his eyes. "Good Morning, Nagihiko 'Cross-Dresser' Fujisaki."

"I guess that's a start," said Nagihiko with a small smile. He turned to Amu and stared rapidly talking to her.

But it wasn't a conversation that Rima could join; they were talking about their date after school. Rima should've expected this, she had read romance manga besides her much preferred comedy ones, and relationships were always giggly and on-going at first. She felt oddly left out, though.

**XOXOXO**

"You're dating Nagi?" screamed the least-mature of the former-guardians, for the entire cafeteria to hear.

"Yaya!" Amu hissed, peering over her shoulder, hoping that no-one had heard Yaya.

"How did it happen?" Yaya squealed excitedly. "Tell me!" Yaya had finally fallen out of her habit of addressing herself in third person last year, though she still acted as young as ever.

Rima ate a mouthful of steamed rice with sea-weed, not joining the conversation. Yaya must have had candy before this, she seemed extra hyper today.

"Why didn't you call me yesterday," Yaya whined after Amu told her the story. "How come Rima-chii knew before me?"

Rima looked up at Amu. "Yeah, I thought you said you were going to call her."

"I did call her," said Amu. "Yaya didn't pick up. I tried calling like about ten times."

Yaya blinked and said, "Oh right! I went to sleep early that day."

Amu and Rima sweat-dropped.

"Yo," said the voice of the oldest former-guardian. "I've heard about you and Nagihiko."

Amu blushed. "W-who told you?" she stuttered. "When did you hear about it?"

"Yaya did, I think" answered Kukai with his face looking like he was concentrating on remembering. "Today –um, oh yeah! - about five minutes ago," he finished, unable to conceal his grin.

Amu scowled. If Kukai had heard it from across the room then everyone had definitely heard it.

"Well congratulations! I'm surprised though, I thought that you weren't over Ta-"

"Kukai!" Yaya yelled, tackling her almost-older-brother.

"Ouch, Yaya! You're too heavy!" said Kukai.

Amu laughed at them and Rima giggled softly. It was a good thing that Yaya had glomped Kukai though, if Kukai had said Tadase's name there'd probably be a cold silence, Rima thought. She glanced at Amu who probably didn't know what Kukai was going to say.

She looked at the seat that used to be occupied by Tadase Hotori, during lunch times (where now, the charas were having a discussion). Amu had cried when Tadase told them, on the last day of the first term of middle school. He was leaving because of his father's job and he said he was really sorry and he promised he'd come back. She cried for a few weeks, until she finally decided that she was done with boys since they always left her. Nagihiko had convinced her otherwise, of course.

As far as Rima knew, Amu and Tadase were still friends. Amu told her that she called Tadase told him that she thought that they should just be friends. According to her, Tadase was okay about it, but she still didn't talk about him after all this time.

"Hey guys," said Nagihiko as he walked towards them.

"Where've you been, Nagi?" asked Amu when he sat next to her.

"I had to clean the room, apparently I did really badly me in one of my tests," he replied, apparently thinking in which test he went wrong.

"I bet you got an 'A+' for your brilliant cleaning skills. You were a girl after all," said Rima, looking innocently at Nagihiko as if this were a compliment.

He rolled his eyes. Rima glanced at Amu who was talking to Kukai about how his football practices were going and grinned. As long as she wasn't looking, Rima could always sneak Nagihiko an insult or two.

Rima turned back to face Nagihiko, waiting for a comeback so she could further insult him. But he was staring at Amu with a smile.

For some reason unknown to Rima, her grin had slipped off her face.

**XOXOXO**

Rima waited at the front of Seiyo Middle School, waiting for Amu. She wanted to walk home with Amu today. She wanted to also show Amu her new manga that she bought, which was hidden in her school bag.

When Amu emerged from the school, Rima tried to wave at her to get her attention. Amu saw her and waved back.

"Do you want to walk back together?" asked Rima eagerly.

Amu shook her head and said, "Sorry Rima, but I'm going out with Nagihiko. He's taking me out on a date somewhere."

Rima was disappointed but she smiled. "I forgot about that but it's okay. Have fun!"

Rima watched as her best friend ran up to Nagihiko and smiled at him and he smiled back. Nagihiko took her hand and they walked happily away. Rima frowned as that strange feeling returned and turned to walk home.

_Right_, Rima thought bitterly, _they're going to be all lovey-dovey for the whole week. Maybe even two weeks. No, considering how shy Amu is when she was around Hotori, she'd definitely act lovey-dovey for much longer. I'm not going to have any time to spend with Amu. Nagihiko's going to spend all that time with her. Stupid Nagihiko, with his soft long hair and his cute smile and – _Rima stopped at that thought. What was she thinking?

She shook her head slightly. Must be the heat, she thought, looking up at the blazing sun and she smiled. Of course it was, she never felt well when it was too hot. It was usually cool these days since it was November. That must be why she was feeling strange. That was obviously the answer.

And at that moment, she absolutely believed in that answer, and wondered why it was this hot on an autumn day, not thinking of what else the feeling might possibly be.

* * *

**A/N: Well that's chapter one! I already planned the whole story so I'm hoping you stick around.**

**I hope you liked it Vi-chan, it's just a little extra present for you! (even though it is a bit anti-Rimahiko at the moment.) :D**

**Please review and thanks for reading!**


	2. Realization

**A/N: Tadaa! I'm here with a second chapter of this. I'm on a roll with this story, I've got the plot and no writer's block yet. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far, I appreciate all your reviews.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Shugo Chara.**

**Edit: Again, just putting page breaks.**

* * *

Chapter 2 - Realization

Rima wrapped her scarf around her neck, as it became colder. She was reading her gag manga, sometimes glancing up to watch Nagihiko play basketball, and then returning to her manga. _How can they stand to play when it's so cold? They're only wearing their basketball shirts and their shorts! _Rima thought as she watched Nagihiko shoot a basketball into the hoop for the tenth time. The other players were good, but none could compare to Nagihiko, she thought.

She sighed. _I wish Amu would hurry up._Amu was currently walking her sister Ami back home since her mum couldn't pick Ami up. Amu promised that she would come back and that the three of them would go to the mall together.

For the past two weeks, Amu and Nagihiko had gone everywhere together like they were magnetically attracted or something. Whenever Rima tried to talk to Amu, Nagihiko would pop up out of nowhere and start talking to Amu. It was like they were in their own world. Rima would, of course, be forgotten, and, feeling very irritated, she'd walk away to talk to Yaya instead.

The only real conversation Rima could remember having with Amu was about her date with Nagihiko. It was a short conversation too.

"How did your first date go?" asked Rima, the day after the date.

"It was like when we usually hang out, except I felt kinda nervous and we were holding hands," said Amu with a dreamy expression. "Good-bye Rima, I'm walking home with Nagi today."

After school for the rest of the two weeks it was the same, Amu and Nagihiko constantly went out and Rima found herself hanging out with Yaya more often. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy Yaya's company, but she was happier when it was the three girls together.

Earlier today, after the bell rang, Amu walked up to Rima. "Rima, do you want to come with me and Nagi to the shopping mall?" she had asked Rima.

Rima felt happier then she had been for the whole two weeks and smiled widely. "Of course!" she said.

"I have to send Ami home first," said Amu. "Can you wait with Nagihiko? He's having his basketball practice right now."

Rima had agreed, since it was Amu that was asking.

Rima smiled at the thought. She was finally going to spend some time with Amu after two whole weeks. Even if Nagihiko was coming, it was better than nothing.

After ten more minutes of Rima watching Nagihiko play, the whistle blew. After high-fiving his team-mates and changing, Nagihiko walked up the stands to sit next to Rima.

"Did you like watching me?" he asked her. He was now wearing a brown coat with jeans and a yellow scarf.

"Not really," she said.

"Are you sure? Because I was you watching me for about twenty minutes without reading your manga again," he said taking her manga and waving it in the air.

Rima turned slightly pink. "I- I already finished reading it," she said. "I wasn't really paying attention to you; I was watching the other players." She snatched the manga from his hand and put in her bag. In fact, she did like watching Nagihiko play; it was like he was floating around the court. She would never admit this to him, though.

"Well, you did see enough to know that I scored fifteen shots," he said.

"No, you only scored eleven," she pointed out.

Nagihiko smirked. "So you _were_ watching me," he said

Rima glared at him. "I wasn't," she argued, feeling angry that Nagihiko had tricked her.

"Yes, you were," he said.

"No, I wasn't."

"You were."

"_No, I was-_"

"Hey guys!" called out Amu from below the stands.

"Amu!" said Nagihiko and Rima in unison.

Rima glared at Nagihiko again and ran downstairs so that she reached Amu first. Feeling pleased with herself she smiled triumphantly at Nagihiko who had just reached down stairs.

Nagihiko mouthed the words 'you were' to Rima before opening his arms to let Amu hug him.

Rima felt something in her chest. It felt painful. Her eyes widened. _What was that?_

She frowned. She had been getting strange feelings like that for the past two weeks. And for some reason, they always happened when she saw Nagihiko and Amu together. She didn't think it had to do with weather, since it had been getting cooler and cooler (the coldest autumn, in fact, that she ever remembered) and she didn't think they were coincidences.

Finally she decided that she was worried about Amu. Even though Nagihiko was Amu's best friend, he was still a guy, and he could hurt Amu.

_It still doesn't make sense..._she thought.

She shook off the feeling again.

"Let's go!" she said with a smile. She pulled Amu's hand and led the way to the mall.

**XOXOXO**

"Take this one" said Rima, showing Amu a pale pink dress.

"No, this one looks nicer," said Nagihiko, holding up a blue dress which looked like it was flowing, and had some sparkles on it.

Amu looked at them both and said hesitantly, "I'm sorry Rima, but I think I like the one Nagi picked better."

Rima's face fell. "Oh, okay." She sobbed. "I- I just thought you'd like it." She sniffed.

"Oh – Rima!" said Amu in alarm, seeing Rima's eyes water. "I didn't mean to say..."

"She's pretending again," said Nagihiko, handing Amu the dress he chose.

Rima glared at him and wiped away the fake tears.

"I hate you," she said.

Amu gave her a reproachful look.

"I mean, I really don't like you," she said, glancing at Amu.

Amu half-smiled and went into the changing room with the dress and some other stuff she picked.

"I hate you," whispered Rima to Nagihiko, now that Amu was out of ear-shot.

Nagihiko gave her an amused look. "Why?" he asked. "For showing Amu a dress that looks nice?"

Rima ignored that. "Should you even be here? It's a girl's store."

She looked around the room which was full of dresses and other accessories for girls.

"So, you've finally accepted that I'm a boy," said Nagihiko, smiling.

Rima ignored that too.

"Besides, boyfriends sometimes help their girlfriends with their shopping, you know. And Amu _is_ my girlfriend."

Rima suddenly felt rage building up in her. "Shut up," she said fiercely. _Stupid Nagihiko, talking about his relationship with Amu..._

Nagihiko stared at her, taken aback by her expression. "Rima-chan?" he said in a worried tone.

Almost instantly, her anger boiled away. _What just came over me?_ She thought bewildered.

"I'm just – sorry," she said awkwardly. "I don't know why I said that."

"It's okay," said Nagihiko, also looking awkward. "Umm...why don't you try out that dress?"

Rima looked surprised and looked down at the dress she was holding. She wanted Amu to wear it; she didn't pick anything for herself.

"Er – okay," she said, walking into the changing room.

She took off her clothes and tried on the dress. It fit her nicely, even though it was for Amu._ I'm getting taller..._she thought. She looked at herself in the mirror. It suited her nicely, even though it was a bit puffy at the bottom, it still looked nice. She stepped out of the dressing room.

"Wow Rima, that looks amazing on you," gushed Amu, who had finished trying one outfit.

Rima's cheeks turned pink. "Thanks Amu!" said Rima, feeling delighted that Amu had complimented her. "You look great too!"

Amu grinned sheepishly. She was wearing a pair of skinny jeans, with a black belt and a black vest with a white shirt underneath it.

"I'm going to try the dress now," she said, and went back into the changing room.

"I knew it'd look good on you," said Nagihiko who was sitting on the bench beside the changing room. Rima nearly jumped, she had almost forgotten he was there.

"No, you didn't. You haven't seen me wear it before, so you wouldn't have known how it would look on me," said Rima, resisting the urge to smile.

"I just knew that it would," he said. "And it really does look amazing on you."

Rima felt suddenly very warm. Not just in her face, but somewhere in her heart. _That means a lot to me_, Rima thought, _coming from Nagihiko. Wait – what?_

"You look like a small princess, or should I say, queen?" he said in a teasing voice.

Nagihiko stood up and took her hand and at that moment, Rima felt warmth spread from the tip of his fingers throughout her entire body. Nagihiko then made her twirl around. Rima felt light-headed and felt her heart flutter against her chest. Nagihiko stopped and she staggered before regaining her balance.

"You're not that graceful though," he chuckled.

Rima stood there, her heart still beating fast. Nagihiko sat back down on the bench and smiled at her._ What's this feeling? Why did Nagihiko make me feel this way? _Suddenly it hit her, the reason, why she was having odd feelings ever since two weeks ago, whenever she saw Nagihiko.

She looked up at him, back at his smiling face and instantly felt like she could stare at him forever.

_I like him._

At that moment, the door of Amu's stall swung open.

Rima turned to look at Amu. She looked dazzling in the blue dress. When she made any slight movement, it seemed like sparkling waves were moving with her.

"Amu, you look beautiful," said Nagihiko.

Amu flushed bright-red and said, "T-thank you."

Nagihiko stood up and, walking past a stunned Rima, planted a kiss on Amu's cheek. Amu flushed deeper but smiled timidly and gazed into Nagihiko's eyes.

It was like the whole world froze for Rima. Her heart stopped beating fast at once and she felt a sinking feeling in her stomach. _Nagihiko is Amu's boyfriend. I can't like him. _She tried smiling at the happy couple but she couldn't. The pain in her heart was too much for her.

Rima ran back into her stall and changed her clothes. She panted heavily, as if she had just run a mile. _Why of all people does it have to be him? Why can't I like someone else? I can't ruin Amu's relationship. She'd hate me. And...Nagihiko...he doesn't like me anyway...I wouldn't stand any cha- _

_NO! I don't like him._

She repeated this a thousand times in her mind, before stepping out of the stall.

She took one look at Amu and Nagihiko holding hands and felt the pain surging back.

Rima walked past Nagihiko and Amu, and hung the pink dress back on the rack.

"Weren't you going to get that?" asked Amu.

"No..." said Rima in a low tone. She couldn't let Amu or Nagihiko know how she felt. "I have too many dresses anyway."

"If you say so," said Nagihiko. Rima felt another sharp pain in her heart. Even hearing his voice now, hurt her."I'm going to pay for your dress Amu."

Rima stared at Nagihiko's back as he walked to the counter. Did he know? No...he couldn't have...she didn't act that suspicious.

"Nagihiko is the best," said Amu with affection in her voice. "I'm so glad he's my boyfriend."

Rima couldn't say 'yes', so she just nodded.

"I – I have to go," said Rima suddenly.

"Huh? Where are you going?" Amu asked her.

"I just remembered...my mum wanted me to do something for her," said Rima quickly.

"Oh, okay," said Amu, nodding.

"Bye," said Rima, running out of the shop as fast as she could.

Rima panted, as she reached home, and threw herself onto her bed. She curled up into a small ball with her knees against her chest.

_Why? Why do I like him? Why does it hurt to see him and Amu together?_ _I don't understand...it didn't hurt like this until today._

Even though Rima had unconsciously been having bad feelings, it was never as bad as this. She had seen Amu and Nagihiko hold hands before and it never affected her this much. Was it because she knew her feelings?

_Maybe, when you know what the feeling is, it gets worse,_ she thought. The truth was, that all those odd feelings, was her, already liking Nagihiko, but refusing to let the thought creep into her mind. But now that she's found out her feelings...

She buried her face into the pillow.

_Please, let me wake up with no feelings for Nagihiko at all, _she thought desperately._It hurts too much to see him with Amu. And she's my best friend! I can't like my my best friend's boyfriend. What if they found out? I don't want these feelings! I want them to disappear. Please, I don't want these feelings..._

_Please...please...please..._

Rima drifted off to sleep, not noticing when her chara Kusu-Kusu, had come back from a chara meeting which the charas still had to attend even though they knew there wasn't an Embryo to find anymore.

Kusu-kusu watched Rima, and she could see the tiniest glimpse of tears at the edges of Rima's eyes. Kusu-kusu had no idea what had happened and had no idea, like Nagihiko or Amu, that Rima's heart was pained.

**

* * *

**

A/N: I'm sorry, but hurting Rima was necessary for the story. She won't get as hurt for the next chapter, at least, it won't be worse.

**Or will it?**

**Review!**


	3. Avoiding Them

**A/N: Tadaa! Wow, I updated after about a week. I usually update about once a month. I guess this story is really fun to write, so I hope you enjoy reading it. :D**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Shugo Chara. **

**Edit: Page breaks, again.**

* * *

Chapter 3 - Avoiding Them 

Rima was walking down a corridor in school. The strange thing was that it was totally deserted. Rima blinked, and then she saw Nagihiko. What was he doing here? Everyone else was gone. She followed him as he turned a corner, but found herself face to face with Amu instead.

"How could you Rima?" cried Amu, tears rolling down her face. "I thought we were friends!"

"But I _am_ your friend," said Rima.

Amu's face suddenly turned furious. "No, you're not!" She turned away from Rima. "I'll never forgive you! NEVER!"

Rima took step back, her eyes widening in horror.

"Go away!"

A black hole appeared beneath Rima's feet, and she fell.

She kept falling, down into darkness, down to no return. Falling...falling...falling...

Rima felt a sharp pain in her head as her eyes flew open. She was panting heavily, her face, stark white. She looked around, and found that she had fallen off her bed. Her breathing steadied and she felt immense relief, realizing that Amu did not hate her and that she was not at the bottom of a dark pit.

Why would Amu hate her? She didn't do anything. It was all a dream after all – a nightmare. The school would not be deserted during school hours, and she wouldn't go following Nagihiko...

Any colour that had returned to her face, drained away immediately.

_I had the dream because I – I like Nagihiko. _She still in fact, had feelings for Naghiko, feelings that did _not_ go away as she had hoped. Rima had imagined that that would what it would feel like if Amu had found out that she liked Nagihiko. She didn't think a black hole would open beneath her, but Amu's expression would surely be the same.

"Rima, are you okay?" she heard Kusu-kusu call out from her egg. "It sounded like you feel pretty hard."

"Yes...I'm okay," she said. It wasn't a total lie. It didn't hurt when she fell, but she did feel miserable about having feelings for Amu's boyfriend.

Rima glanced at the clock, it was time to go to school.

**XOXOXO**

Rima sat in her seat, glancing around nervously. At any moment, Amu and Nagihiko would walk in. Hand in hand. Maybe they might have fallen sick, Rima hoped. No, what was she thinking? What kind of friend thinks that? And anyway, they were healthy and would still come to class.

And they did.

Rima held her breath as she saw them walk in. She felt a tinge of pain in her heart, though it didn't hurt as much as the day before. She still didn't feel like talking to them, though.

_Don't notice me...please..._

But they did.

"Morning, Rima!" said Amu happily.

"Morning..." Rima managed to say.

"How did that thing go with your mum?" asked Amu.

Rima was confused for only the slightest moment, then expertly turned her expression to an exasperated look.

"She wanted me to help her cook dinner," said Rima. "Though she knows that I'm not good at cooking."

Amu laughed. "Well mum's can be like that sometimes."

Amu bent down to take out her books.

_Thank Kami-sama, Amu didn't notice anything...but I hate lying to her._

"Hello, Rima-chan," said a voice Rima had dreaded to hear. Pain shot through her as she heard his voice.

She didn't dare to look up at him and said, "Good Morning, Nagihiko," without looking into his face.

**XOXOXO**

She peered from behind the door to the cafeteria. No sign of Nagihiko. She walked to sit with Yaya.

"Hey! You went out shopping with Amu and Nagi yesterday!" whined Yaya. "Why didn't you bring me?"

"You had ballet practice," said Rima, a little annoyed that Yaya mentioned Nagihiko's name.

"Oh, right, and Amu-chi said that you left early," said Yaya. "But I still heard about what happened!"

Rima's eyes widened in panic. _Did Amu find out? Did she tell Yaya? _

"Nagihiko kissed Amu!" squealed Yaya.

Rima nearly choked on her food. "W-what?"

_He and Amu – no! – it couldn't have happened. _

"It was only on the cheek, but it's still something," said Yaya.

"Oh, I was there," said Rima, feeling relieved that that was all that happened.

She then felt angry with herself. _I must not feel this way! Nagihiko can kiss Amu on the lips if he wanted to for all I care! Because I don't care! Not at all! Not even one tiny bit-_

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the cafeteria door open, and long purple hair, coming out from it.

Without another word to Yaya, Rima abandoned her food, grabbed Kusu-Kusu, who was talking to Pepe, and raced across the cafeteria to the opposite door. She pulled the door open and ran out of it.

"Rima-chi?" she heard Yaya call out, just as the door closed.

She rested with her back against the door, breathing heavily.

_That was close...too close..._

"Mmmph," said Kusu-kusu, struggling to let herself out of Rima's grip.

"Oh sorry," said Rima, releasing her chara.

"What was that about?" asked her chara. "You grabbed me when Nagihiko and Amu were walking in! Why did you – Oh!" A look of understanding was now shown on Kusu-Kusu's face.

"It was because they walked in together," she said.

Rima was surprised. Kusu-kusu wasn't there yesterday, and Rima didn't tell her.

"How did you know?" asked Rima. "Is it that obvious?"

Kusu-kusu shook her head. "Nope! I'm your chara! I know these things!" She giggled normally.

"Okay," said Rima. "But don't tell anyone about this. Absolutely no one."

Kusu-kusu nodded seriously.

Rima pressed her face against the small glass window on the door. Amu was holding hands with Nagihiko and coming her way.

"Let's go," whispered Rima hurriedly, and dashed to her classroom.

She didn't talk to either Nagihiko or Amu that day. When the bell rang, she ran out of the room and made her way for home.

The next day, Rima came to school as usual, but she refused to make any contact with Amu and Nagihiko. She was the first one to leave the classroom. At lunch, she had eaten a sushi pack that her mum had made in a corridor next to her locker. Even after school, she took the back exit of the school, so Nagihiko and Amu wouldn't see her.

This continued over a week.

_If I can keep this up for two more days,_ Rima thought, on the morning of the second last day of the school term, _I'll be safe._ Rima had figured that if she avoided Amu and Nagihiko for a week, and didn't talk to them over the Winter Break, then maybe her feelings for Nagihiko would disappear completely. Rima thought that the crush might already be going away; it didn't hurt at all when she saw Nagihiko playing basketball on her way home.

The day was the same as usual. She had managed to stay out of Nagihiko and Amu's sight.

Until the end of school.

Rima had opened the door of the back thinking, _only one more day_. She hadn't counted on Nagihiko waiting for her outside.

Her heart skipped a beat. He was smiling at her with his beautiful smile.

_I can't believe I just called him beautiful...weird..._she thought. _But I really do like his smile..._

"Rima-chan, are you avoiding us?" demanded Nagihiko, though he was still smiling.

Rima froze, her brain working fast. _What do I do?_

"No," she said, in a steady voice that surprised even herself.

"Then why are you taking the back exit?" he asked her.

"Because I feel like it," said Rima.

"Rima-chan, Amu's worried about you," said Nagihiko.

_Oh damn it...What do I say?_

Whatever she told Nagihiko, he would definitely tell Amu...and Rima didn't want that. She glanced ever so slightly at Kusu-kusu, her eyes pleading 'help!' But Kusu-kusu merely giggled as Rima had instructed her to do whenever they might be in danger of Rima's feelings being exposed.

Then an idea dawned on Rima.

"I didn't want to get between you two," she said.

Nagihiko's eye brows had risen in surprise. "What do you mean?"

"Well, that day when we went shopping. You guys kept acting lovey-dovey. It's no fun since I was getting left out. It was like you guys felt sorry for me and just wanted me to tag along on your date," she said, feigning anger, while actually desperately hoping that he would believe the excuse. "I wanted to hang out with Amu!"

There was a silence.

"Oh, that's why," said Nagihiko, wearing a look of comprehension.

_I can't believe he believed that. Thank you Kami-sama!_

"I'll tell Amu-chan , maybe you guys can hang out without me," said Nagihiko with a laugh. "I'm sorry for spending so much time your best friend."

"Yeah," said Rima. "You better be."

There was another silence.

"Hey, do you want me to walk you home?" asked Nagihiko. "Amu-chan went ahead of me."

Rima's heart skipped another beat.

_Yes!_ Her heart cried out.

"No thanks," she said instead.

Even if Nagihiko's offer was only a friendly one, Rima couldn't risk it. Even at this second, being in Nagihiko's presence was dangerous; her heart was already beating too fast for her liking.

"I'll just go by myself," she said, and walked as quickly as possible without running pass Nagihiko, her heart aching.

"Bye-bye!" said Kusu-kusu cheerfully to a confused Nagihiko, Temari and Rizumu.

**XOXOXO**

"Hey Nagihiko," said Amu looking over her shoulder for any sign of a certain someone. "Did you notice that Rima's been...not around lately."

Nagihiko, who had been outing some books in his locker, looked at Amu.

"Yeah, I did," he said. "I talked to Rima about it after school yesterday."

"You have?" said Amu feeling surprised. "I haven't had any chance to talk to her."

It was true. For some reason, Rima always seemed to mysteriously blend into the crowd whenever Amu tried to catch her attention and Amu first thought that they were coincidences. She could almost swear, though, that once, Rima had seen Amu and had run in the opposite direction.

Amu had a feeling that Rima was avoiding her, but she didn't know why. When she asked Yaya about it, she merely shrugged and said that maybe Rima was just busy.

_But why did she suddenly become so busy?_ Amu thought. It was the last day of school now, so there wasn't much work to do unless you wanted to finish your Winter Break homework early. _And Rima's not the type of person to do her homework early..._

"She didn't want to get in our way," said Nagihiko, snapping Amu out of a train of thought.

"Get in our way?" repeated Amu, puzzled.

"She wanted to spend time with you, and said that she didn't want me always being there," said Nagihiko.

"That makes sense," said Dia, the wisest of Amu's charas.

"Oh," said Amu. She suddenly felt guilty. She had been paying less attention to her best-friend lately. She could understand why Rima would be mad.

"Okay Amu-chan!" cheered Ran enthusiastically. "Today will be operation 'Talk to Rima'!"

"Eh?" said Amu.

"Yeah! This will be the perfect chance for you two to hang out! To celebrate the end of school term," added Miki.

"Okay..." said Amu looking unsurely into the faces of her four charas.

"Don't worry everything will be just fine," said Nagihiko, encouragingly.

Amu felt her face turn pink. "I'll do my best."

"Hey Rima," called Amu to Rima as she was leaving the school gates.

"Amu?" said Rima.

Amu panted for a while. She had run to make sure she didn't miss talking to Rima. She then straightened up, glanced over her shoulder to see Nagihiko give her a smile and turned back to talk to Rima.

"I heard from Nagihiko about the last few days," she said. "I'm sorry I haven't talked to you a lot."

Amu waited for a reply, but Rima just stared, so she continued.

"So why don't we hang out today it make up for it?" said Amu, hoping Rima would forgive her.

"I – um –I really want to hang out with you but the thing is that I sort of have plans," said Rima quickly.

"Really?" asked Amu curiously. "What plans?"

Rima paused for a second, then opened her mouth, but Amu didn't hear her say anything.

"Rima-chi!" sang out Yaya, who suddenly, as if by magic, appeared at Rima's side. "Let's go! I want my ice cream now!" She pulled at Rima's hand and practically dragged her away, their charas floating as fast as they could to keep up with them.

They were gone before Amu could say anything.

"That didn't go too well," said Nagihiko.

Amu shook her head.

"Don't worry-desu," said Suu. "You can call her and make plans later."

Amu nodded. "I will," she said brightly.

* * *

**A/N: Yes, this is a sort of slow chapter, right? I don't even know what a slow chapter is but it felt right to call this a slow moving chapter. Anyway, my friend brought up that Nagi twirling Rima was flirting (or were you thinking of another part? 0_0) and I was sort of thinking that too when I was writing it. But that's how I wanted Rima to realize (sort of) her feelings. So, just take the twirling as Nagihiko's unconcious play-boy-ness in his blood, I'm sure every boy has that. (Wasn't there an episode in Doki where he danced with some girl?)**

**Also, I realized that I updated sooner because you guys gave me good reviews, thanks for them! School starts soon tomorrow so it'll be harder to update but if you review maybe I'll manage to squeeze in an update. :D**


	4. Christmas Shopping

**A/N: Tadaa! The new chapter has arrived! Sorry for the wait, but I was away at school camp. Again, thanks for all the reviews! You guys are the best :D**

**(My usual paragraph breaks are not working, sorry! So it'll be : -break-)  
**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Shugo chara**

* * *

Chapter 4 - Christmas Shopping

"Thanks Yaya," said Rima. They were sitting in a newly opened ice-cream parlour called 'Happy Ice!'.

"No problem," said Yaya cheerfully. She ate a mouthful of chocolate ice-cream that she had ordered.

Rima had no idea what she was going to say to Amu when she confronted Rima. And now, as she ate her mint-chocolate ice-cream , she felt guilty and angry with herself, because even when she was speaking to Amu, she had found herself staring over Amu's shoulder for a few seconds to look at Nagihiko.

So she was extremely grateful that Yaya had pulled her away. Rima didn't know what would happen if she had to talk to Amu.

Then a thought struck her.

"Why did you take me here?" she asked cautiously.

"Because I wanted to try the new ice-cream here," replied Yaya.

_A likely excuse, _thought Rima._ How could it be that Yaya wanted me to go with her exactly when I needed to avoid answering Amu. It can't be just a coincidence. But if it isn't, then Yaya must have found out about my feelings. But I didn't tell maybe..._

"Is Yaya psychic?" asked Rima to Kusu-kusu in a whisper.

Kusu-kusu gave Rima an incredulous look.

"Forget I said that," whispered Rima, feeling stupid. What kind of question was that? A really stupid one, of course.

She was getting paranoid.

She watched Yaya order a third round of ice-cream. Yaya probably wanted to come here for the ice-cream, like she said. She was just being the usual sweet-loving Yaya.

"Hey Rima-chi. Why were you so nervous when you were talking to Amu-chi?" asked Yaya. "Come to think of it, you've been acting strange lately. Amu asked me about it, you know. I told her maybe you were busy, but I don't think that's it. So what's the matter?"

Rima ate her ice-cream so that she wouldn't have to answer.

"Well, you started acting weird since about three weeks ago," said Yaya, looking thoughtful. "That's when Amu-chi and Nagi got together..." A look of comprehension spread over Yaya's face. Not good. "This has to do with Nagi right?"

"What do you mean?" asked Rima, putting a blank look on her face. If she wasn't good at hiding her facial expression, she'd be having a horrified and panicked look. _She's found out! What do I do?!?!_

Kusu-kusu had stopped giggling. Rima guessed that she didn't have any ideas either.

"You have feelings for him, don't you?" asked Yaya.

Well, not really 'asked'. Yaya knew. She only needed Rima to confirm it. After all, the pair of them were the ones who were always teasing Amu and Tadase, a long time ago. They had knew the oblivious couple's feelings. So of course Yaya would easily spot the trouble Rima had.

There was no point in trying to trick Yaya.

"Yes," muttered Rima quietly.

_What is she going to do? Call Amu? Tell her? _

Yaya gave Rima an uncharacteristic sad smile. "It must hurt."

Rima nodded slowly, looking down. "Don't tell anyone," she said.

Yaya nodded.

"Promise me," said Rima.

"I promise," said Yaya seriously.

Sometimes Yaya might be overly loud, but Rima felt that this time, Yaya would not tell anyone.

Rima gave Yaya one of her rare smiles. "It's a deal."

"Okay, so let's order a banana split! We can share it together. But I could finish one by myself. Do you want your own?" said Yaya, in her usual hyper voice.

Rima, inwardly taken aback by Yaya's sudden change said, "We'll share, I can't finish one on my own anyway."

Yaya ordered the banana split, then turned back to Rima.

"Okay! First things first. We have to get you over Nagi," said Yaya.

Rima stayed silent for a while. _Get over him? Of course I don't want to have feelings for Nagihiko but getting over him...that's impossible..._

Still, she was willing to listen to what Yaya had to say.

"Operation 'Getting Over Nagi' needs planning," said Yaya. _Where does she come up with these names? _Rima asked herself.

"So what kind of feelings do you have?" asked Yaya.

Rima felt surprised. Obviously the romantic kind, or else she wouldn't be in this predicament. But Yaya would know that. So why did she ask?

"I meant, is it just a crush? Do you really _like_ him? Or is it..." she paused with an eager look on her face, trying to create a dramatic effect. "Love!"

_Love..._the word echoed in Rima's mind.

"No," she said. Liking Nagihiko, that was one thing. Amu would never speak to her again. Love? Rima might have to move away from Japan to hide her shame.

"I said three things! Which ones are 'no'?" asked Yaya impatiently.

"Not love..." said Rima. Definitely not love.

"So it's love? This will be hard..." muttered Yaya. She started scribbling some things in a notebook that she pulled out from nowhere.

"I said 'not love'," said Rima.

"Which means it _is_ love," announced Yaya, closing her notebook.

"It's not love," Rima repeated.

"Yes it is," sang Yaya. "You're in denial."

Rima stared Yaya. Denial? Rima? Never.

''I'm not in den-"

"See! That's denial!" said Yaya excitedly.

Rima was starting to get annoyed with Yaya. How on earth could she be in denial about being denial?

"I've read lots of mangas," Yaya said. "The main girl is always in denial about the guy that she actually loves!"

Rima remained silent. All the romance mangas Rima had read had also had a girl in denial, who always acted exactly like how Rima was acting.

"Fine," said Rima, though she wasn't so sure. But Yaya's point made sense. If she only liked Nagihiko, she wouldn't have this much pain would she? But love...when did she fall in love with him?

"Don't worry! I'll come up with a plan," said Yaya confidently. "Hey, the ice-cream's here!"

Yaya picked up her spoon and started eating the ice-cream at top-speed.

Rima started to eat the ice-cream too, but at a slower speed then Yaya. While Yaya was coming up with a plan, Rima thought she should spend some time with Amu. Maybe it would let her stubborn heart realize that she shouldn't love Nagihiko, for the sake of her friendship.

**-break-**

"Amu," called out Rima. The pinkette saw Rima and ran over to her.

"Hi Rima," said Amu. "Did you wait long?"

Rima shook her head.

"Okay, let's go," said Amu. They started walking in the usual mall. "Oh yeah, do you have the list?"

Rima nodded and took out a long list for Christmas presents.

Amu was going away for week to visit her relatives and would only be back just before Christmas, so she and Rima decided that they would go Chistmas Shopping. It was only the two of them shopping, which made Rima happy.

The list read:

_Yaya's List ^-^_

_Amu-chi: This really cute clip that I saw._

_Rima-chi: The newest gag manga I can find._

_Kukai: A skateboard (his brothers accidentally broke his old one!)_

_Nagi: This cool sports bag._

_Inchou: I'm not really sure yet..._

_Utau-chan: A hat!_

"Eh? Isn't this Yaya's list," said Ran, after reading the list.

"Yup!" replied Kusu-kusu. "It's also a list of what not to buy!"

"Yaya always thinks of the good stuff," said Amu. "I'm no good at thinking up presents."

Rima wasn't good at it either, though she didn't say it.

"Why don't we go to that shop first?" suggested Rima, pointing at a shop.

"Okay," Amu said.

They walked into the cute shop and started looking around. It was full of soft plush toys and cute accessories.

"Hey look, I think I see a perfect present for Yaya," said Amu. She reached up and pulled out a plus rabbit. "She still loves rabbits and plush toys."

"It's so kawaii!" cried Suu.

Rima nodded. That was fast...What would she get for Yaya?

She kept walking around the shop until she spotted two hair bands with orbs of bubble-gum colour. Yaya would love them. She took them and walked back to Amu.

"Look what I found for Utau," said Amu happily. She held up a brooch which was half a red bat-like wing, and half a white feathery wing.

"It does match her theme," said Rima.

"What are you getting her?" asked Amu.

Rima thought about this. Utau was always more of Amu's friend but Rima had sort of gotten closer to Utau after some outings together with her.

"I'll help you," said Amu, after Rima didn't reply. "Let's look at more accessories."

Rima and Amu scanned the displays. There was a bunny shaped clip...clips with stars...a heart clip with a crown...

"Hey Amu, isn't this on your Shugo Chara Egg box?" asked Rima, holding up the clip for Amu to see. "Did you come here before?"

Amu stared at the clip. "Yeah...a long time ago..."said Amu looking uncomfortable. Her eyes seemed to glaze over and she looked down, as if Amu was remembering something unpleasant. "Anyway," Amu said suddenly. "Found anything for Utau?"

Rima pointed at a stack of shirts. Amu turned around, her face looking curious. Rima was pointing to a white shirt with musical notes, and said 'Music is My Soul'.

"How artistic!" exclaimed Miki, examining the shirt.

"Nice choice. Oh, yeah, Rima, are you going to get something for me from here? Or should we move on?"

"Actually I think I saw something, could you go out for a while?" requested Rima.

"Oh okay. I'll wait outside then. No, Ran! You have to come too," said Amu, walking out the door.

She picked up a charm bracelet. It had a heart, spade, clover and diamond charm attached to the chains. She found her eyes travelling to another charm bracelet, with a rain drop charm and star charm.

Maybe she would get Yaya to drop hints to Amu that Rima wanted a charm bracelet. Then it could be something like a friendship bracelet.

**-break-**

"Ahh getting boys gifts are much harder than getting stuff for girls!" cried Amu hopelessly.

After an hour, Rima and Amu had only found a present for Kukai. It just came out and was quite expensive but Rima and Amu decided that they would share the present.

"What do you think I should get for Inchou?" Amu asked for about the tenth time.

Rima shrugged, she had found this authentic looking samurai sword that was quite cheap. Kairi probably wouldn't notice, though.

Maybe Amu should get Kairi the whole Naruto series, though maybe he wouldn't like it that much since Naruto was about ninjas, and not samurais and the fact that it would be expensive. Then again, maybe he didn't really care.

"Look Amu-chan," said Dia, pointing over to the book shop. There was a new release on display that said: 'How to Be A Samurai' by Brian Chiga.

"Score!" cheered Ran happily.

Amu rushed into the store and came out a minute later with a big book.

"This was the last one they had in stock," said Amu.

_Who knew that so many people were into Samurias? _Thought Rima, amused.

"Oh wait here for a moment," said Amu. She hurried off in one direction.

Rima sat down on a bench, satisfied at their choices of presents for their friends. Five minutes later Amu returned.

"Okay! Now's the last present is for Nagihiko," said Amu. "I think I know what to get him. What about you?"

Rima froze for just one moment.

"I don't know," said Rima truthfully. Here she was, trying to get over Nagihiko by spending more time with Amu, but of course, since she was shopping with Amu she also had to go get something for Nagihiko too. How could it have slipped her mind?

"Well let's look for something that you can get him," said Amu enthusiastically.

"What about you?" asked Rima.

Amu turned slightly pink. "I think I'm going to try and m-make something for him."

Rima felt a surge of pain. Why didn't she think of that? Nagihiko would really like a present like that...but Amu thought of it first...

No, she couldn't afford to be jealous. She wouldn't give Nagihiko a nice present. She wasn't supposed to. That was up to Amu.

"I don't want to give him a present," said Rima.

Amu looked at Rima with an astonished look.

"But it's Christmas!" said Suu.

"They say that it's the thought that counts," said Rima.

The others sweat-dropped.

"Well, if you really don't want to,' said Amu looking a bit disappointed. "I thought you guys were friends now. Don't you like him?"

Rima felt another stab of pain. _I do like him, but not in the way that you think..._

"He's okay, I guess," Rima muttered.

"Then come on, let's look for something," said Amu.

They walked for a few minute, but to Rima it felt like a few hours. _What should I get him? Nothing to nice, or Amu would get suspicious. But if he doesn't like it, Amu might not like me anymore._

Rima stopped suddenly and looked at a shop with traditional flowers that were placed outside.

"I think I know what to get him," said Rima softly.

Amu looked at what Rima was looking at and said.

"I think he'll like it. You should get it for him," said Amu encouragingly.

Rima walked in and placed her present for Nagihiko on the counter.

"Are you sure you want to get him that?" asked Kusu-kusu.

Rima nodded.

_I can't help it...I really want him to like it._

As Amu and Rima walked back home, she thought of the friendship bracelet in her bag. Then she glanced at Amu, who was arguing with her charas.

_Is it really okay for me to be friends with her?_

* * *

**A/N: It seemed a bit like a filler to me. Oh well. Hoped you liked it anyway.  
**

**Review!**


	5. Everything is Under Control

**A/N: Tadaa! I've finally updated the story :D It took a little longer the usual, but here it is! Oh yeah, this story is inspired by (and may look like it's sort of copied from) 'Outta Control' from emichii (Such an awesome writer! My work can't be compared!). If any of you readers are Taiora fans, then I would recommend you read emichii's stories.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Shugo Chara.**

**Edit: Minor gramatical errors. (Ahh I've heard that the lyrics are annoying, but I don't really want to take them out, sorry!)**

* * *

Chapter 5 - Everything is Under Control

Rima tapped her table repeatedly with her pencil, her mind thinking deeply. She looked down at her maths book. She was never really good at maths, she didn't find it fun. The only time she had enjoyed anything to do with numbers was when someone had said "Why is six afraid of seven? Because seven ate nine!" Any other number related joke was approved by her, but equations were definitely not welcome.

Rima sighed at looked out the window. The sky was turning to a beautiful shade of orange, signalling the end of the day.

Tomorrow was Christmas, meaning there were only a few more days of winter break, and she didn't want to leave her holiday homework until the last day. A smile snuck its way onto Rima's face; that was probably what Amu was going to do. Amu had just come back from her trip with her parents yesterday, and said she hadn't done it yet either.

Just then, her phone buzzed. She had gotten a message from Utau.

_I wonder what it is? I haven't heard from Utau for a long time, _Rima thought.

The text read:

_Hey, my dad and his friends are holding a Christmas Party tomorrow night. You're invited. It's at the usual park at 6 o'clock. Reply soon._

Well...her mother was going to her own Christmas Party anyway, so she'd probably say yes.

'_I'll come'_ texted Rima back.

She turned back to her maths problem and stared down at it. Maybe she could get one of her slaves to do it for her. She shook her head; she didn't have that many slaves anymore.

She thought about the party. Amu was probably coming, and since Rima was invited the other former-guardians were probably invited too. Which meant Nagihiko would come.

But that didn't matter, thought Rima smiling triumphantly. She hadn't thought of Nagihiko at all since she was with Amu. Not even once. Well, there was one time that Nagihiko had called her, but she didn't answer, so it was okay. She was sure that all her feelings had been evaporated.

The answer to the maths problem suddenly came to her. That was a good sign. She scribbled the answer down, feeling excited for the Christmas Party tomorrow.

**XOXOXO**

Rima stared at the park. It had been completely transformed; paper lanterns of all colours were hung around the trees, a stage with a few instruments on it and a giant Christmas tree was placed at a corner of the square. Lots of guests had already arrived; some were chattering around and some were scouting the food table. They were all wearing formal clothes, making Rima glad that she had dressed properly. She was wearing a white headband, and a blue dress with tights and a white jacket.

"Hey," said Utau, walking up to her, smiling. "Glad you could come."

"Hi!" greeted Kusu-kusu enthusiastically on Rima's behalf. "Where do we put the presents?" Rima was clutching a bag full of the presents that she and Amu had gone out to buy the other day.

"Under the tree, of course," said Utau.

"Right, is Amu here yet?" asked Rima, scanning the crowd.

"Yeah, I think she's by the tree," said Utau, turning. "I have to go greet the other guests, see you later."

Rima nodded and made her way for the tree. She managed to get a glimpse of the food and had the urge to rush over and eat, but she kept walking.

"Hi," said Amu as Rima came into sight. Amu was wearing the black vest and white long-sleeved shirt that they bought the other day, but she wore it with a plaited pink skirt with white tights.

"Hi Amu, how was your trip?" asked Rima, putting her presents under the tree.

"Great! We went skiing and stuff," said Amu.

"Yeah! Amu-chan was really great," cheered Ran.

"She made me chara-change..._again_," said Amu, gritting her teeth at the memory.

"Amu! Rima-chan!" said a violet-haired boy, running into view.

Rima stared at Nagihiko, completely stunned. Her heart had increased in speed and was beating painfully against her chest. What was wrong with her? She was supposed to be over him! It was supposed to be full-proof! But she was looking at Nagihiko, with his cute smile, and amber eyes. It didn't help that Nagihiko was wearing his brown coat with a white sweater and jeans.

"Hello," Rima managed to mumble, not believing it.

All her efforts were wasted. All it did was make her heart-ache worse.

"Rima?" said Amu. Rima looked at Amu and saw that Amu had a concerned look on her face.

_No!_ Rima cried in her head frantically. _She thinks something's wrong. She _cannot_ know that something is wrong. HELP!_

"CHOCOLATE!" screamed a shrill voice. _Saved_. She took this distraction as chance to quickly change her face back to normal.

The three of them turned to the direction where the loud sound had seemed to come from. They all sweat-dropped, because right there, stood Yaya, looking like she was having a hard time restraining herself from diving head-first into the chocolate fountain.

Yaya had saved Rima again, without knowing it.

"Yaya," called out Amu, waving a hand at the poor girl.

Yaya turned around and spotted her friends. She waved back but then turned to talk to someone.

"Who's she talking to?" asked Nagihiko, though he didn't need to be answered, since at that moment, Yaya ran over dragging a boy with her.

"Hey guys!" she greeted cheerfully, while the poor former-Jack panted beside her.

"S-senpai, could you not drag me like that next time?" breathed Kairi.

"Haha, sorry!" apologized Yaya.

"Oh, hello," said Kairi to the others.

"Hi, Kairi," said Amu. "How's it been going?"

Kairi pushed up his glasses. "Well, all the chairs in the guardians are still full, with the exception of the 'Joker' position. There has been a decrease of X-eggs for the past year, though when one is found, it is taken care of immediately. The school uniform is being currently discussed this week, and the paperwork has been stacking up..." said Kairi in a tone that made Rima think that he might have rehearsed this.

Rima and the others tried to listen to what Kairi was rambling on about, until Yaya interrupted him.

"Enough complicated talking," cried Yaya. "You're not being fun at all."

Rima secretly agreed.

"Well, we might as well tell him what's been going on with us too," said Nagihiko, and started telling Kairi what was going on in the school. Kairi looked like listening to what Nagihiko was saying attentively, while Amu sweat-dropped at the scene.

Yaya looked bored then turned to Rima. "So how are you feeling?" she said in a casual tone.

Rima understood what she meant by that. She shook her head. She was still stupidly in love with her best-friend's boyfriend.

"Oh," said Yaya with a sympathetic look.

"Good evening everyone," rang out Utau's voice. She was standing on top of the stage with a microphone in her hand. Everyone fell silent. "I'm glad that everyone was able to come, and we hope you'll enjoy this performance."

Two dark-blue haired men wearing suits, one in his late teens, walked up to the stage and stood next to a keyboard, where a tall man, also wearing a suit, with brown hair sat. There was a thin girl with red hair standing next to them, with a guitar. Another man sat beside the girl, ready to play the drums.

"It's Ikuto," whispered Amu to Rima. Rima nodded.

Ikuto and his father started playing tunes, on their violins, with the man on the piano. Utau took a breath and started singing.

_Kanashimi ni tsubusare sou demo  
sonna kao wa yamete  
Okazari no Cheap na Pride wa sutete shimaou_

Rima listened to Utau's voice, gentle yet strong. The lyrics of the song...they also meant something to Rima. The man with black hair, sitting at the drums started playing, as well as the girl on the guitar as Utau started the chorus.

_Taiyou no moto de hitomi somukezu ni ikite ikou_  
_Sou da yo waraitai hashagitai sunao ni_  
_Kanjirareru mabushii Happiness_  
_Zettai akiramenai darenimo ubaenai yume ga aru_  
_Ima sugu tsutaetai tsukamitai aserazu shinkokyuu shite_  
_Taiyou ga niau yo tobikiri no egao misete_

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Amu lean against Nagihiko's shoulder. Rima locked her gaze on the stage. Why should she cause herself pain?

_BIRU ga sasu shikakui kage ni nomare souna toki mo_  
_Kowagarazu shikai no mukougawa habataite ikou_

Rima stared at the stage; there were beams of various colours of light flashing on the players. It was rather interesting, Rima thought.

_Fukaku kizutsuki naite naite tsukarete mou nemurenai_  
_Kuyashikute aishitai aisaretai kodoku na_  
_Nagai yoru mo kate ni naru kara_  
_Dareka no koto ushiro yubi bakari sasu nante_  
_Kekkyoku jishin ga nai jibun ga nai tsumaranai nigeteru dake_  
_Kinishicha DAME da yo saikou no toki tsukamou_

Not interesting enough, apparently, because Rima's gaze fell onto Nagihiko and Amu again. Nagihiko saw her, and gave her a smile.

_Glorious Sunshine!_

No! Don't look at him, she thought. She tuned herself out so that she could only hear the music and only see the stage.

_Taiyou no moto de hitomi somukezu ni ikite ikou_  
_Soshitara megami mo higamu you na Kiss wo_  
_Tokimeiteru mabayui Happiness_  
_Sono mune no oku yuruginaki hikari tsuranuita kimi koso_  
_Honto no kagayaki no imi wo mitsukeru hito_  
_Taiyou ga niau yo yorokobi no uta utaou_

Rima tuned back in when she heard the sound of applause echoing from the crowd, and started clapping too. The musicians on stage bowed, and walked of the stage as Utau announced that they were going to have short break before resuming.

Amu lifted her head from Nagihiko's shoulder and looked around.

"Look, Ikuto is coming," said Amu. And as she said, the tall cat-like young man walked towards them.

"Hi," he greeted them. "Long time no see."

"Yeah," said Amu. "How've you been doing?"

"Fine," he said, then he smirked. "But you've been better."Amu blushed, because Ikuto was looking pointedly at Nagihiko.

"So you're Amu's boyfriend," said Ikuto. "I heard about you from Utau." Nagihiko nodded as the two shook hands.

"I saw you from the stage with Amu, which was also how I could tell," he said smirking. This caused Amu to blush even deeper. This guy could really make people feel uncomfortable, thought Rima, judging by the looks on Nagihiko's and Amu's faces.

"Hey it's Ikuto!" said Yaya, glomping him. Yaya reasoned that since Kukai was like her big brother, that made Utau her big sister, automatically making Ikuto her other big brother. At least, that's what Rima thought she meant.

"Hi," he said, ruffling her hair absent-mindedly. Ikuto was used to this since Yaya glomped him the last time they met, Rima supposed. Or maybe it was because he was glomped like this by Utau, as Amu said.

Just then the red-headed girl with the guitar walked up to them. She looked about seventeen to Rima.

"Excuse me," said the girl bowing to everyone. She then turned to Ikuto. "I'm sorry, but we have to go perform now." She turned back to the group. "I hope you guys don't mind."

Rima stared at the girl. She was very polite, but her clothes and hair seemed out of her personality. Then again, as a character bearer, who was she to judge?

"Oh yeah," said Ikuto. "This is Akira Kouzumi. She's the daughter of the keyboard player."

Akira bowed again. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

The former-guardians started feeling a bit uncomfortable. She was a bit too formal to them.

"I think you're scaring them, Akira," said Ikuto, chuckling.

They heard a ping and Akira's ruby necklace disappeared. "Ahaha...sorry about that...my mum said it's important to be polite." She rubbed the back of her head. "Ruru likes doing that when I meet someone, which is good, but it kinda freaks people out sometimes." A small chara peeked out from behind her shoulder. She had blonde hair and a blue dress and was wearing white gloves.

"Oh you have a chara," said Yaya in interest.

"Yup," said Akira. "She was born out of my will to be like my Okaa-san."

"Oh, is she here?" asked Amu.

"No, she died," Akira said in a matter-of-fact tone. Amu looked horrified at what she just said but Akira didn't seem to mind. "But I think she wants me to be polite. She always said so." She turned back to Ikuto. "Anyway, we have to go Ikuto-kun! They're already waiting for us; you weren't supposed to chat with people."

She walked back to the stage merrily with Ikuto following her.

"She was nice," said Yaya. "I like her!"

"She spoke as a lady should," said Kairi in an approving voice, "for a moment anyway."

"The band is going to start playing again," announced Utau. "Please clear out from the centre of the room to make way for the dancers."

The band started to play some classical music and couples started moving to the middle to dance. Utau went off the stage and joined Kukai, whom they didn't see just now for some reason. The charas floated to a table and attempted to dance.

"Yay," cheered Yaya. "Let's all go dance." She dragged along Rima, Kairi, Nagihiko and Amu along with her to the dance floor and started to dance with Kairi, who looked completely confused at what was happening. After a minute, Rima couldn't see them anymore under the flurry of people.

Great. Now what was she supposed to do? Yaya had totally abandoned her and she was standing in the middle of the room like an idiot. She turned to Amu and Nagihiko to ask them go sit down with her but stopped.

Amu had her hands in Nagihiko's and were doing something like a waltz. Amu looked nervous but Nagihiko muttered something and she smiled.

Rima felt as though she had been pierced with a knife. To see Nagihiko...smiling like that for Amu was bad enough; it made her feel like she had been slapped, but they were dancing together. And that was the thing that Rima couldn't stand. Didn't she dance with him when they were purifying all those X-eggs? She didn't know about Nagihiko and she never told him, but that had meant something to her. And yet..._and yet..._

She wanted to run; to get as far away as possible. But her legs were rooted to the spot, and her eyes did not seem to want to stop watching the couple. After about four minutes, the torture finally stopped.

The guests clapped for the band when the music stopped. "Okay," said Utau, now back in the stage. "Now it's time for an exchange of partners."

There was a buzz of noise and Amu looked panicked and ran over to Kairi. Yaya grabbed some random person from beside her. Rima stood there, alone. Again.

But she wasn't alone. Nagihiko looked at her and said, "So that makes us partners right." Her heart nearly stopped.

_N_o, she cried in her head, _this is too dangerous! I can't do this._ But nevertheless, after hesitating, she took Nagihiko's hand. She let Nagihiko lead the dance and looked away from his face. This only would last four minutes. _I can handle that._

"What's wrong?" asked Nagihiko.

She had to look back at Nagihiko, since looking away seemed to ruin their balance. She looked at Nagihiko with a sort of fury. Part of it was so that he wouldn't suspect anything, and part of it was because she was angry that he had to be so damn handsome.

_Why does he have to have warm, soft hands? Why does his eyes make me want to melt in them? Why did I have to fall in love with him?_

She had asked herself that last question many times, but never got an answer. But she did have to answer Nagihiko.

"I don't see why I have to dance with _you_," she said spitefully. "I don't want to." It was partly true.

"Why not? We danced together before," said Nagihiko.

"Well that was different," she said stubbornly.

"How was that different?" he asked her.

"Because...it feels really weird to dance with you when you're going out with Amu," she shot back. She just had to cause herself more pain, didn't she?

"Oh...right..." said Nagihiko. He was gazing in the direction of Amu. Rima felt anger surging up, but tried to control it. _Don't lose control. This is for Amu. Don't be selfish, Rima._

For the rest of the dance, she kept quiet and refused to look at him anymore. The moment the music stopped she let go of Nagihiko's hands and stalked off to catch up with Amu.

"Hey Amu," said Rima. "How was your dance?"

Amu sweat-dropped. "I accidentally stepped on Kairi's feet a few times." Kairi winced, as if to prove the point. Yaya walked to them and said, "That was fun!"

"Who did you dance with?" asked Amu.

"Umm...that old man over there," replied Yaya, pointing to a nearly bald old man.

The others sweat-dropped.

"What about you?" asked Amu.

"Nagihiko dances like a girl," said Rima shortly.

"And Rima can't dance at all," said Nagihiko when he came. Rima glared at him (hey, she wasn't _that_ bad) and Nagihiko returned it with a smile. "Haha, actually you were quite good at dancing."

Rima mumbled "stupid" under her breath. He was not allowed to compliment her right now.

"I bet you were good Rima," said Amu smiling. Now that compliment Rima could take with a smile.

"And now it's time for the Christmas Presents exchange," said Utau. She sounded like one of those advertising people on TV, thought Rima.

Everyone scrambled for the giant tree, so it took fifteen minutes before they could get all the presents to the table. Yaya opened all hers first and yelled "cute!" at every single one, since everyone had gotten her cute things. Kairi of course, formally said thanks to everyone in his mature manner, though when he saw the Samurai guide he started reading it and was deaf to whatever else anyone said. Kukai, who had now joined them along with Utau, gave praise enthusiastically to whoever gave him a present.

Amu opened hers and blushed at whatever she got. When she saw Rima's gift, she cried out happily and gave Rima a hug. Rima was happy, though that feeling was not to last as Amu opened Nagihiko's gift.

"Wow," she gasped. She held up a giant jewellery box which had intricate designs of flowers and ribbons. When she opened it, there was a dancer which revolved slowly on the spot, with a tinkle of music. "It's beautiful." She stood up and hugged Nagihiko. Rima flinched and was about to run away but Yaya gripped her shirt from behind without anyone noticing.

Amu put the box away, much to Rima's relief and looked at a package. "Oh, this is from..." her voice trailed off as her eyes widened. She hastily put away the present without opening it. "Okay," she said. "Now it's Rima's turn."

Rima had gotten a limited edition bala-balace figurine from Utau, a cap from Kukai, a book 'The History of Comedy' from Kairi, the latest edition of Rima's favourite gag manga from Yaya, and a bracelet from Amu with a teardrop and star charm. Rima smiled at Amu gratefully for the present (even though she knew that Yaya had asked Amu to get it). Rima felt overjoyed that they both now had something to symbolise their friendship.

"Thank you everyone," said Rima, giving one of her are smiles to at all of them.

"Yo," said Rizumu flying over. "You haven't opened Nagihiko's present yet."

"Oh, right," she said. She was hoping that nobody would notice and that she could just open it at home.

It was really small, maybe it was a pen or something then she wouldn't have to thank Nagihiko that much. She opened the neatly folded wrapping, taking as long as she possibly could. At last, everyone could see a small black box. Yup, definitely a pen.

"Go on, open it," said Amu excitedly.

Rima opened it confidently and looked into the box. Her hands suddenly grew numb. There was a black choker inside. It wouldn't have been that much a big deal to her, if it wasn't for the sakura flower on it. Suddenly, she flashed back to when she and Nagihiko were at the fair with Yaya's brother, when Nagihiko held her cheek. Rima felt another stab of pain at her chest, and refrained from wincing. Why did it have to be a sakura? It could've been a ribbon, or a rose, but instead it was a sakura.

"How do you like it?" questioned Nagihiko.

"I – I think..." she said, unsure what to say. She hated it. It just had to remind her about that day – yet – she felt like it was precious, because that day was special to her.

"Hey, don't be unfair," said Utau suddenly. "She already said 'thank you' to everyone so there's no need to get another opinion out of her."

"Of course," said Yaya cheerfully. "That's not in her character, right? So no need to go and push her."

Rima stared at the both of them. Yaya had just saved her life again, with the help of Utau too.

"That's right," said Rima. She glared meaningfully at Nagihiko, who just shrugged.

"Nagihiko comes next," said Yaya.

"How come you guys started without me?" asked Ikuto, walking right up to them.

"It's not our fault that you were eating first," said Amu. "Anyway, we're opening Nagihiko's presents now. "

"Oh yeah, thanks for the violin case, Amu," said Ikuto.

"Hey, how come I don't get a thanks for the present I gave you," complained Utau.

"Because you're family, so it doesn't count," said Ikuto simply.

Utau grumbled quietly while Kukai comforted her, obviously holding back a laugh.

"By the way," said Ikuto, now looking at all of them. "Speaking of presents, I have a surprise for you guys."

Everyone, including Rima, looked up at Ikuto, with interest.

"Well, what is it?" asked Yaya impatiently.

"It wouldn't be a surprise if I told you," he said, smirking.

"Come on! Tell us," pleaded Yaya, who didn't like to not-know something.

"Like I said, you'll have to see. It'll come in one week. That's all I'm saying," said Ikuto with the same infuriating smirk. Even Rima had to admit that she was curious about what the surprise was.

"Well," said Kairi, finally clamping his book shut. "School starts in one week, so whatever the surprise is must be happening in school."The group stared at Kairi. Even Ikuto looked slightly taken aback by Kairi's deduction.

"AHAH!" yelled Yaya triumphantly. "It's going to be in school...I KNOW! The music teacher has resigned, and that means that the job is open...YOU'RE BECOMING OUR NEW MUSIC TEACHER!"

The group then looked at Ikuto and he just smirked. "You guys know me better than that. Why would I become a teacher? That would take all the fun out of life," he said.

"Yeah, a stray cat like him wouldn't take a job in one place," said Amu.

"Then what is it?" demanded Yaya. "What's the surprise?" Ikuto stayed silent and smirked at her, clearly enjoying tormenting the little girl.

_Ping!_

"WAHHHH! I WANT TO KNOW NOW!," wailed Yaya, in baby mode. It took them nearly ten minutes to calm her down. "Anyway," she said. "Let's get back to the present opening."

Nagihiko took out his bag and opened a package, which Rima knew was Amu's, judging by her face turning pink. He held out a teddy bear with an X-clipp and a pink sweater on it.

"I know it's really bad," said Amu turning away, her face growing redder. "But I heard of a make a teddy-bear kit that you were supposed to give to the one you like and I wanted to make something for you that would remind you of me." Amu turned back to Nagihiko to see his reaction.

Nagihiko smiled, and took Amu's hand. "It's perfect," said Nagihiko. They both smiled at each other.

As always, they looked like a perfect couple. Something Rima could never compare to. Rima looked down as her eyes darkened, hoping they would let go soon.

"Oho! There's love in the air," cried out Eru suddenly. Amu and Nagihiko lt go of each others hands and they both turned pink.

"Stop it!" said Amu nervously.

"Lovey-Dovey love! Lovey-Dovey Love!" chanted Eru, then she suddenly stopped. "I smell jealousy!" Rima tensed. _Please, don't look at me._

"Amu-chi and Nagi have lots of fans," said Yaya. "There would be lots of jealousy!"

The group broke into a laugh, and Rima forced a small felt it was safe to stop staring at the ground, and looked up. Her eyes strayed to Nagihiko's presents. She spotted hers under the pile of the others. Her heart nearly stopped again. She couldn't watch Nagihiko open her present. She wouldn't be able to.

She then heard a loud beep come from her bag and everyone looked at her. She opened her phone and read a text message...from Yaya?

"_A true samurai knows when it is time to retreat...I saw that in Kairi's book!_" it read. She looked up, and Yaya winked at her. She flashed her the smallest of smiles.

"I'm sorry guys," said Rima in an air of great disappointment. "My Okaa-san says I have to go home now." She put her phone back in her bag. "Bye." She turned around and started walking away.

"Bye," chorused the others, since they all knew about her strict parents.

At the gate to the party, she broke into a run, to get as far away as possible to the one who caused her so much pain.

* * *

**A/N: That was my longest chapter yet, more than 4800 words! It was going to be longer but I'll save it for the next chapter. The msuic-box present was KasumiAmu's idea, so thank you! And the teddy bear from Amu was inspired from 'CardCaptorSakura'. The interesting event will be in the next chapter, or maybe the chapter after that.**

**Please Review!**


	6. Snowy Weather

**A/N: Tadaa! A new chapter :D Once again, thank you for all the reviews! This chapter might make you guys a bit happier, I hope. Also, this one is around my usual length for chapters, unlike my last one which was twice as long xD Enjoy!**

**I do not own Shugo Chara.**

* * *

Chapter 6 - Snowy Weather

Rima walked slowly back home. It wasn't that far, her mother wouldn't be home anyway. Besides, she felt like she had to walk around; she had experienced too much this night. It felt like maybe it was a test, to see how long she could last until she finally had to leave. If so, she felt like she had failed miserably. What if they acted like that in school? Not that they hadn't, but last time she avoided them. Amu would become suspicious if she did that now.

She shivered as a frosty breeze of wind swept past her; she should have brought a thicker jacket. She felt a sudden coolness on her face. It had begun to snow lightly. Just great, now she would be even colder.

She turned back her thoughts to the party. What had she endured? She saw Amu and Nagihiko smiling at each other in the most endearing way Rima must've thought was possible. They held hands and hugged. Well, she was used to that, right? And they danced. Rima frowned just thinking about it. How come that affected her so much? Sure, it was how they cleansed the X-eggs, but Rima didn't actually like dancing so much. Maybe...it was just because it was with Nagihiko.

"Rima-chan?" called out a faint voice. Rima came to a halt.

"Kusu-kusu, did you say something?" asked Rima. Kusu-kusu shook her head, looking confused. Great. Her depression was making her hear things.

Rima continued walking and pulled her jacket tighter using one hand since she was carrying her presents in the other. The snow was coming down faster and there was already a thin layer of snow on the ground, making her shoes wet. Rima watched the ground with mild interest.

The snow on the ground grew thicker and thicker as Rima walked. "I'm going to get buried by all this snow," muttered Rima to Kusu-kusu. Kusu-kusu giggled but Rima heard a chuckle from someone else.

She suddenly realized that it had stopped snowing...on her at least.

She looked up and stared in a stunned silence at Nagihiko, holding up a blue umbrella for the two of them on one hand and his bag full of presents in the other. Temari and Rizumu floated on either side of him.

"Glad you've finally noticed me," said Nagihiko.

"What are you doing here?" said Rima blankly. She went out to walk off the thoughts of him, not for him to come here!

"Amu was worried about you since it started snowing, and asked me to walk you home since her parents called her to go home too," explained Nagihiko as if it were that simple.

"I don't want you to, I'm fine on my own," Rima lied fiercely. She didn't need him to increase her pain.

"Just pretend I'm not here."

"Too much work. Just go away."

"I promised Amu I would walk with you," said Nagihiko. "So you're stuck with me until we get to your house." _Damn Nagihiko, using the Amu excuse on me._

"Fine," she said and walked ahead of Nagihiko. "Then let's just get there fast."

"Oh my," said Temari.

Rima glanced next to her and saw that Nagihiko was easily following her pace. She gritted her teeth. _Fifteen minutes to get _home_. No problem. I can handle that, _she thought. _Yeah, maybe, if I ignore Nagihiko and this freezing weather. _Rima noticed though, that her heart wasn't hurting at the moment, which didn't make sense since she was right next to Nagihiko. Maybe she was just too cold.

"Hey can you stop for a while?" asked Nagihiko. Rima stopped walking.

Suddenly she didn't feel that cold and felt something on her shoulders. Nagihiko had taken off his jacket and put it on Rima.

"What was that for?" she asked unsurely. She didn't know if she should accept Nagihiko's kindness or not.

"You looked cold," said Nagihiko.

"What about you? Aren't you cold?" she asked.

"Sort of." Nagihiko shrugged. Rima glared at him. How could he be so infuriatingly calm all the time?

"If you're cold, why don't you take back your jacket?"

"You ask too many questions," said Nagihiko. Kusu-kusu giggled. Hey! She didn't ask that many questions...did she? "Besides, you looked colder than me." Rima couldn't argue with that.

"Whatever," she said, putting on the jacket properly. "Let's go."

They walked in silence. Rima didn't say anything, but she thought it was nice that Nagihiko gave her his jacket. Her heart was crying out happily while her mind was telling it to stop it. She was hopeless.

"Hey," said Nagihiko. "It stopped snowing."

Rima looked up. It did stop snowing, but there was still a lot of snow on the ground, slowing them down. Nagihiko closed his umbrella and pushed the top until it retracted to its smaller size and put it in his bag. Then he pulled out something else. It was a mask, a traditional Japanese one that was used for dancers.

"You gave me this..." said Nagihiko. "Why?"

"For your Christmas present, of course," said Rima. She stared at the ground as if she was trying to see through it. She wasn't supposed to me explaining this to Nagihiko. That's the reason she left the party in the first place.

"Well, why this?" Nagihiko pressed on.

"You're going to have a recital," said Rima. Amu wasn't here, so she thought it might be okay. Besides, Nagihiko wouldn't stop pestering her if she didn't tell him. She knew him at least that well. "I thought you'd need it to bring out your inner-girl since you're dancing as Nadeshiko." Kusu-kusu giggled continuously. Rima smiled slightly.

"But this is-" Nagihiko stopped in mid-sentence and seemed to change his mind about what he wanted to say. "What does it matter? Everyone's been giving me sports stuff for basketball, which I love a lot." Rizumu grinned. Rima stared at Nagihiko, wondering why he was suddenly saying this. "It's sort of like everyone forgot that there was another side to me."But I still love dancing." Temari smiled. "So...thank you," finished Nagihiko.

Rima looked away from Nagihiko again. "You're welcome," she said. It wasn't on accident that she had gotten him that. After all, she wanted something that would be useful to him. Something no one else would get for him. He didn't necessarily have to like it. Only if she was thinking that, that would be lying to herself since she really did want him to like it. Or at least, her heart did. Her heart, which now felt warm. In fact, her whole body felt warm. Maybe it was because of Nagihiko's jacket. Or maybe it was just Nagihiko.

"We're here," said Nagihiko, startling Rima. She had just noticed that they were standing in front of her house.

"Oh okay," she said. She stood there awkwardly for a moment. "Bye."

"What, no 'thank you' for walking you home?"

"No."

"But Amu would want you to thank me," said Nagihiko with a smile.

"Fine! Thank you," said Rima through gritted teeth.

"That's better," said Nagihiko. "Can I have my jacket back? I guess you could keep it if you like it that much."

Rima felt her face grow slightly warmer and took off her jacket and threw it onto Nagihiko. "Goodbye."

She entered her house and shut the door. One minute later she opened it slightly and peered out of it in the direction Nagihiko would be heading home. She just caught a glimpse of his back when he was out of her view.

She closed the door again and leaned against it smiling slightly. It wouldn't be too bad. Nagihiko...she could handle it.

**XOXOXO**

Rima woke up a week later by Kusu-kusu's loud giggles.

"It's time for school, Rima-chan!" she announced excitedly. Rima kept her eyes shut...a few more minutes wouldn't hurt. "RIMA-CHAN!" Rima sat up in her bed.

"I'm up," she muttered tiredly.

Ten minutes later she was eating break-fast, dressed up and ready for the first day back at school. She had packed all her stuff the night before, including her holiday homework. She wondered if Amu had managed to finish hers.

"I'm going now," said Rima to her mother who was still eating her own break-fast.

"Okay, bye," said her mother, waving at her daughter.

Rima smiled as she walked out the door. Her mother seemed to be acting a whole lot happier lately. She didn't know why, but it was a good thing.

"Hi Rima," said a voice that Rima recognised as Amu's come from behind her. She turned around and was a little surprised to see Amu running towards her. "Let's walk to school together."

Rima blinked. "Don't you usually walk with..." said Rima not really wanting to mention Nagihiko's name when she was with Amu, "that cross-dresser."

"Don't call him that," Amu scolded Rima playfully. "Anyway, I just felt like walking with you." Amu smiled cheerfully and Rima noticed that Amu was wearing the bracelet that Rima had given her. Rima was wearing hers too. Rima's smile widened and they started walking to school.

"Did you get finish your work?" asked Rima.

"Yeah," said Amu. "But I had to rush." As Rima knew she would. "Anyway, remember Ikuto said that there would be a surprise?" Rima nodded. "I've been asking Utau but she says she has no idea what the surprise is."

"Eru said that it was a wonderful surprise," said Su.

"But then Iru kicked her and she didn't tell us what it was," continued Miki.

"Exactly," said Amu. "I really want to know what it is!"

"I guess we'll find out later," said Rima, amused at Amu.

Just five minutes later they arrived at school. Amu was looking around while they headed to class. "I can't see anything different," said Amu. "What could it be?"

"Maybe it's a ghost," whispered Yaya appearing out of nowhere.

"Ahhh!" shrieked Amu, causing several people to stare at her. Amu regained her composure and scolded Yaya. "Don't sneak up on me like that!"

"Haha," giggled Yaya. "Sorry!" She crossed her arms. "Kukai and Utau-chan wouldn't tell me the surprise either." She pouted. "It's not fair!"

The Amu and the charas crossed their arms too and nodded in agreement. "We should go to class, Amu, we're going to be late," said Rima.

"Oh yeah," said Amu. "See you at lunch, Yaya."

The pair walked into the classroom and exchanged greetings from all their classmates. All of them were talking about how their Christmas was. Saaya was talking loudly about how she went to a ski resort which her dad owns. No one paid much attention to her except her loyal group of other girls.

"Morning," said Nagihiko when he walked in. Rima watched him cautiously as he put his schoolbag down. It might now be easier to be around Amu and Nagihiko now, but she still had to be careful.

She looked away before Nagihiko could see that she was watching him. He walked over to a group of boys and started talking to them. Rima wondered who Nagihiko's closest guy friends were. Probably those in the basketball team too, Rima reasoned. She had not thought about it before for some reason, or she just hadn't noticed. Maybe, because Nagihiko's best friend was Amu and she was always competing with him for her attention that she couldn't see him really being friends with anyone else besides the former-guardians.

The teacher, Mikan-sensei, cleared her throat, and the class fell silent and went to their places.

"Today, we have a new transfer student," she said then she paused, "though I think some of you would know him."

There was a murmur among the students. They had not heard of a new transfer student, and they usually knew everything, or at least what they thought was everything. Amu was arguing with her charas again about the surprise, too busy to concern herself with the matter of the new student. Nagihiko turned to look at both of them with a quizzical look. Rima shrugged. They weren't guardians anymore, it wasn't their business to know who was coming or not. The new transfer student had walked in while the three of them weren't paying attention, and the teacher asked him to introduce himself.

"The surprise can't be that," said Amu at Ran's suggestion that the school would get a life-time supply of ice-cream. "That's just-"

"Good morning everyone," said a voice that sounded somewhat familiar to Rima. Amu stopped in mid-sentence and her head shot up. She stared at the transfer student, her mouth gaping. "My name is Tadase Hotori, nice the meet you."

Rima stared at Tadase, then at Amu who was mouthing the words "No way..." Nagihiko looked surprised to see him, and a little uncomfortable, but Amu looked like someone had literally shocked her. Rima thought these two reactions were quite interesting.

It wasn't that Rima disliked Tadase, but as he passed to take his place behind Amu, she felt that somehow, things around here were going to get more complicated than they already were.

But that was ridiculous. Why and how in the world could things get any more complicated than they already were?

* * *

**A/N: Yes indeed Rima, how could this story get compliacted? ~grins evily~ Anyway, I think some of you might be...um...upset that Tadase has returned and you guys are sort of predicting the outcome of this story. But Tadase has an important role as some of you might've guessed...you'll see. Anyway, as long as we get a Rimahiko ending, no worries, right?**

**REVIEW!**


	7. Return of The King

**A/N: Tadaa! Sorry for the late update, I was busy with my school holiday x3 Anyway, this chapter is mainly to build up for the coming chapters...I'll try updating sooner next time xDD**

**I do not own Shugo Chara.**

* * *

Chapter 7 - Return of the King

"Tadase-sama," squealed nearly all the girls in the class. Rima heard them immediately start whispering on how cute Tadase was looking and already planning schemes on how to get him. This had been absent for the last year Tadase was here, but now since Amu was with Nagihiko, they all had a chance, or at least, they thought so.

Of course, these same girls would crowd around Tadase's table in between classes so the former-guardians had no chance to talk to him until lunch.

"Tadase!" Kukai gave Tadase a one arm hug and ruffled his blond hair. "Long time no see." He was grinning broadly at his old friend.

"Yeah it's been too long, Souma-kun," Tadase said with a happy expression.

"When did you come back?" asked Nagihiko, also with a smile.

"A week ago," answered Tadase. "But I wanted to surprise you guys at school."

"Tadase!" cried Yaya happily, glomping Tadase. "Wah, we all missed you!" She let go and Tadase smiled at everyone.

It was a happy re-union. Even Rima had to admit that she was happy that Tadase returned, though she didn't say anything. There was only one person not rejoicing at the return of Tadase. Rima looked at Amu who was standing awkwardly in the background, looking down and shifting uncomfortably in the background. Her characters were telling her things that Rima could not hear, but she heard a sort of urgency in their voices.

Tadase, Rima saw, noticed too and smiled at Amu in between the gaps of his friends crowded around him. "Hi, Hinamori-san."

Hinamori-san? Rima looked between Tadase and Amu and suddenly realized that there must be some sort of tension between them. They broke up, hadn't they? Of course it would be awkward. Amu didn't even talk to Rima about it. And Tadase had gotten back to calling her Hinamori-san. But Rima noticed that Tadase was still smiling. Was he really okay about it, as Amu said?

"Hey Tadase-kun, it's great to see you," said Amu with a normal smile in just as a happy tone as anyone else.

Good. Rima felt relieved. She probably imagined the tension. They were good all good friends, so there wasn't anything to worry about.

"Hee, I knew the surprise would be good," said Yaya with a triumphant grin. Tadase looked at Yaya with a questioning expression.

"Tsukiyomi told us that there would be surprise when we got to school," explained Nagihiko. "We never thought it would be you, though."

Tadase rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, I told Ikuto-nii-san and Utau-chan." He put his hand back down. "I was actually at the Christmas party."

"You were?" asked Yaya, in a tone that reflected the group's surprise. "I didn't see you."

"Oh, I dropped of my presents in the just at the start of the dance. I watched for a while but I left since I didn't want you to see me." Tadase grinned. "Still, it looked like you guys were having fun."

Hmm...Rima didn't see Tadase either, and usually she was good at observing things. She wasn't dancing at the start, so she should have seen him, though maybe she was a little preoccupied with watching Amu and Nagihiko dance.

Nagihiko's smile disappeared. "But that means you saw..." his voice trailed off and he glanced sideways at Amu.

So, Tadase saw Amu and Nagihiko too, thought Rima. Rima looked at Tadase carefully and saw pain flash in his eyes for only a second. No one else seemed to notice it. Rima suddenly felt sorry for Tadase. At least for herself, Amu and Nagihiko didn't know that she liked Nagihiko. In Tadase's case, everyone knew. And what was worse, Nagihiko had actually helped try to get them together. Rima had also helped with that too of course, with Yaya in the lead. Rima and Nagihiko were just mainly caught up in Yaya's plans. Rima pushed that thought out of her mind. That was when Rima spent most of her time along with Nagihiko. It wasn't good to think about things like that at a time like this.

"Oh that." Tadase laughed, which surprised Rima and the rest of them. Rima did notice that it was a more of a nervous one, though. "I heard about it from Utau-chan." He smiled cheerfully at Nagihiko and Amu. "Congratulations! I'm happy for you."

Tadase? Giving out a right out lie? But Rima saw that Nagihiko and Amu seemed to believe him. She thought that at least Nagihiko would notice it, but he was now talking now with Tadase.

Maybe Tadase was telling the truth. Perhaps he wouldn't do anything that might ruin Nagihiko's and Amu's relationship, which would result in Amu being sad. Rima, of course, would not allow that and she doubted that Tadase wanted Amu to be sad.

Still, Rima felt the atmosphere was pretty strange at the moment.

"Commoners!" cried out Kiseki from on the table. "I have returned! We will continue our plans for my world domination! HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

The other characters groaned and they all laughed. Kiseki's outburst seemed to have changed the atmosphere.

Rima smiled; maybe things would turn out okay.

**XOXOXO**

"So, are we walking home together today?" Rima asked Amu on the way to the exit of the school.

Amu shook her head in a regretful manner. "Sorry, I'm going with Nagihiko to the park."

Rima felt something drop in the pit of her stomach. Of course. Just because Amu walked to school with her that morning didn't mean she wanted to walk home with her. Really, the whole point of begging her parents to allow her to walk back from school was so that she could walk back with her friends. If she was going to walk alone, she might as well been picked up by her mum.

"Amu-chan," called Nagihiko, walking towards them, along with Tadase.

"Oh, Hinamori-san," said Tadase. "Could you - " He broke of looking confused. Rima, Nagihiko and Amu all stared at him. He shook his head with a smile. "I forgot what I was going to ask." They all laughed but Rima noticed Amu's laugh was rather hesitant.

"Let's go." Nagihiko took Amu's hand and walked away.

Rima's chest tightened painfully. Pain. How normal it was, these days. She would just have to get used to it. Tadase clenched his fists, which startled Rima, who had forgotten he was there.

Rima thought about how ironic it was. Amu broke up with Tadase. Nagihiko got together with Amu after she was depressed. And somehow both Rima and Tadase ended up being hurt. Rima didn't like irony much anymore.

"Are you okay, Hotori-kun?" asked Rima. She surprised herself in asking that. She wasn't really one to ask if anyone was okay, seeing as she wasn't herself. Still, as comrades in love problems, she guessed it was only natural.

"No need to worry about me," said Tadase with a laugh. Rima could distinctly hear the quiver in his voice. Rima thought she was lucky that she was a much better actor than Tadase. And that Amu wasn't good at spotting lies.

Tadase looked around. "Isn't your mother going to pick you up?"

Rima shook her head. "I can walk home alone now." Yes, keyword: alone.

"Do you want me to walk you home?" Tadase offered. Rima raised an eyebrow.

Tadase shrugged. "I feel like walking around more." Ah, by that he must have meant that, by walking Rima home first, he didn't need to walk past the park where Amu and Nagihiko were at.

"Hey!" yelled Yaya running up to the three of them. "I wanna walk with you guys too." She held up a list. "I gotta pick up some things around town and I have to pass your house to get there, so why not?"

"Sure, Yuiki-san," said Tadase.

They started walking in the direction of Rima's house. They didn't talk for a while, though; Tadase looked deep in thought while Yaya was humming a tune, and Rima didn't usually talk that much anyway.

She too, was thinking, mostly about Nagihiko and Amu. She wondered how Nagihiko felt at Tadase being back. He did look quite awkward before, though she knew he did his best to hide it. Rima thought that Tadase didn't notice Naghiko's awkwardness. Rima did, of course, because she was a good actor. Or maybe it was just that she had been paying more attention to Nagihiko lately.

She looked up at the bare trees. She was sure she had spotted some cherry blossom trees too, though they weren't in bloom yet. This was around the time where she and Nagihiko went to the fair and had to take care of Yaya's little brother, Tsubasa. She wondered how Tsubasa might be doing, he had grown quite a bit since that day. She envied Tsubasa...his family was still together, and he had no worries since he was so young.

No need to worry about a serious love problem.

"Guyyys!" whined Yaya suddenly, jerking Rima and Tadase out of their thoughts. "Seriously, you guys are being really gloomy."

Rima simply looked at Yaya. She knew what Rima was feeling, so she should know that being gloomy was the only thing to do.

Tadase on the other hand looked surprised. "I'm not gloomy. I was just thinking..."

Yaya gave Tadase a sceptical look. "And what you were thinking of was making you look gloomy." Tadase laughed nervously. Rima supposed that Tadase was feeling rather gloomy – no, why was she using such a childish word? – depressed. Tadase just didn't realize that he showed it on his face.

"No, of course not," said Tadase immediately but Yaya continued giving them an annoyed look.

"I know that you both don't like seeing Amu-chan and Nagi together," Yaya stated.

"What? That's not true, I do like seeing them toge- well – I don't have a problem with it, I mean, it doesn't mean anything to me at all," Tadase said very quickly, though he looked more nervous.

Rima sighed. "Well, Yaya, if you know that, then can't you just let us be depressed about it?"

Tadase stopped in mid-sentence of denying further of caring about Amu and Nagihiko's relationship and looked at Rima, astonished.

"Mashiro-san...you...do you mean that you're-?"

"Yes, I'm in love with stupid Nagihiko," Rima answered before he could finish the question. He looked shocked. She saw a look of complete shock on Tadase's face. But for some reason, she felt that it was more shock that she admitted it so quickly, than shock of the fact that she loved Nagihiko.

"Oh..." he said.

"Yes, and we know you're still not over Amu-chan," Yaya said grimly.

Tadase looked between the two of them and sighed. "No...I'm not..."

"But even so," said Yaya. "You guys just can't be depressed!" She shook her head. "Not when everyone's finally back together!" She pumped her fist in the air. "Alright, 'Mission: Get Everyone to Be Happy', starts now!"

"I agree with the commoner," said Kiseki importantly by Tadase's shoulder. "A king cannot be depressed over insignificant things."

"Insignificant," repeated Rima, amused. This problem certainly wasn't insignificant.

"Okay, I'll organize a whole day where the old guardians will just go out and have some fun!" declared Yaya, sounding very excited. "A day that'll make everyone say, Yay! Whee! And Hooray!"

Rima remembered Kairi mentioning that Yaya had used the very same words when she wanted to find what to put in the giant ball during graduation. Rima let out a smile.

Yaya grinned, when she saw Rima's smile and then sounded more excited as she talked about ideas on where they would go and what they would do. Before she knew it, they had arrived at Rima's house.

"Good bye, Mashiro-san," said Tadase.

"Bye Rima-chi," sang Yaya.

Rima watched as the two of them headed into town, and saw that even Tadase managed a smile. Then she realized that she hadn't thought of Nagihiko and Amu for half of the walk back home, like she thought she would.

Yaya had managed to cheer her up after all.

* * *

**A/N: Hmm...Amu's acting a little awkward, eh? Anyway, the story is now in January...and I need it to be February for the more interesting parts to come in, so it looks like I might put at least 3 chapters until it really gets good. Hope you can stay with me :D Please review.**


	8. The SuperAwesome Fun Outing

**A/N: Hey guys! I'm really sorry that I haven't updated for a long time, but my school has fanfiction(dot)com blocked so I can't upload anything. And I've been extra busy with school, getting used to my new school and working hard. So this chapter is longer than usual, hope you like it!**

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN SHUGO CHARA.**

**

* * *

**

Chapter 8 – The Super-Awesome Fun Outing

Amu gripped her boyfriend's hand tightly as they walked towards the park. Nagihiko looked like he noticed how Amu was acting quite tense today and Amu loosened her hold quickly.

"What's wrong?" Nagihiko asked quietly, frowning slightly.

Amu shook her head, though she knew she was quite unconvincing, and smiled. "Nothing..." Nagihiko showed signs that he wanted to say something, but he kept quiet, and Amu was grateful for that.

She was not sure that Nagihiko would want to discuss how Tadase's return was bothering her. She felt a little guilty about breaking up with him, but she guessed that that was what everyone who split up with someone felt. But that didn't mean they couldn't just be friends, right?

With that thought, she smiled more sincerely and pulled Nagihiko along to the park.

Nagihiko, who was surprised at the change of attitude allowed himself to be steered by Amu, though the frown on his features had stayed for a second longer.

**XOXOXO**

Rima lay on her bed, feeling thoroughly exhausted. It was finally Friday, no more school for two whole days, Rima thought feeling free. And tonight was the special for her favourite comedy show. She could just sit in her room, bring up a few snacks and watch it all night. It wasn't her usual room, though. Since her mother had won most of the custody for Rima, she stayed at her old house which belonged to her mother. But she was allowed to stay at her dad's place on alternate weekends. It had been hard at first, but she learned to cope.

She stared happily at her homework-free school-bag. The last two weeks had been crammed with homework and assignments that Rima had no time to think or worry about her other problems. Okay, admittedly, Rima had been able to sneak on some thoughts of Nagihiko during lessons but only for a very short while. Amu and Nagihiko were both acting as usual...with their perfect-couple atmosphere that Rima learned to escape from.

Recently nearly all her projects were with Tadase, because he was the only one in her class she knew that didn't fawn over her or threw jealous looks at her. That and the fact that Amu wasn't free to be her partner anymore because she was busy spending time with _Nagihiko_.

_Stupid Nagihiko_, she thought.

The house phone rang and because her dad was at work, she had to go and get it. "Hello. This is the Mashiro Residence. Who am I speaking to?"

"It's Louis, is your father at home? Can I speak to him-?" said a squeaky voice.

"No," Rima answered shortly. "He'll call you back later." She put down the phone, feeling quite annoyed that she had to walk all the way to the phone for nothing.

Louis was her dad's American business partner and her dad had been complaining was calling too much. She couldn't blame her dad, Louis's voice was really annoying.

Just then, Utada Hikaru's voice floated out from Rima's room and Rima ran back to her room to answer her hand phone. "Hi."

"Rima-tan!" came Yaya's voice. "Remember that super awesome outing I was planning?"

Remember it? It was quite impossible to forget it, with Yaya reminding her about it every single day. "Yes, what about it?"

"I already asked everyone and they're all free except Kukai. The super awesome outing takes place tomorrow. Don't be late!" And before Rima could say anything else, Yaya hung up. Kusu-kusu giggled.

Rima sighed. "Three...two...one." Before Utada Hikaru's voice could be heard Rima pressed the answer button.

"Oh yeah, we're meeting at the usual amusement park at eleven o'clock. Bye," said Yaya's voice quickly before hanging up again.

Rima smiled at Yaya's forgetfulness before lying back down on her bed. Her bed was queen sized in both her mum and dad's houses, with both having simple red sheets and pillows. She felt quite comfortable on her bed at the moment and felt like she might just lay there for fifteen minutes.

The house phone rang again. "Rima-chan!" said Kusu-Kusu.

"Yeah, I've got it." Rima let out another sigh, got up again and walked to the living room where the annoying Louis was probably waiting to be answered.

**XOXOXO**

Yaya tapped her foot impatiently while Rima and Amu were on their respective phones. "Where are the guys? Aren't guys supposed to be earlier than girls?" Yaya looked around at Amu and Rima and when no one answered her she stamped her foot down.

"Guyyys!" she whined, with Pepe imitating her owner.

"What's the matter Yaya-chan?" asked Nagihiko, as he, Kairi and Tadase walked up to them. Rima focused on her phone's screen after a quick glance at Nagihiko. Amu, on the other hand, stopped playing around on her phone and hugged Nagihiko at once. Rima gripped her phone hard and Tadase looked away trying not to make his discomfort look too obvious, Yaya rolled her eyes at their lovey-dovey-ness, and Kairi – he was busy being distressed that he was almost late.

"So what do you guys want to do first?" Yaya asked the group.

Rima finally put her phone away after Nagihiko and Amu released each other and looked around. There were lots of stalls that had been put up in addition to the rides, mostly with red and yellow striped roof-tops and different games or food. Everyone here were mostly little kids with their parents being dragged along with them. Rima frowned slightly.

"Why don't we go on the - " Tadase was about to suggest when he was interrupted.

"The carousel!" Yaya chirped, not waiting for the Tadae to finish. She ran to the cue, waving for the others to come over.

"Yay!" cried all the charas, flying over.

"...Aren't we a bit too old for that?" Rima said.

Nagihiko shrugged. "It doesn't have an age limit so it'll be fine." He glanced at Rima. "Besides, even if it did, you could pass as a nine-year old."

Rima glared at his joke at her height. "Say that again and you're dead."

Amu sweat-dropped. "C'mon guys, the cue's getting longer."

"That's right, we have to be 4.54 minutes faster than usual now," said Kairi. The other three sweat-dropped as well.

The group joined Yaya who was standing in front of a horse with pink ribbons and was glaring at a girl with brown pig-tails.

"I want this pony, you're too old anyway!" the girl yelled at Yaya.

Yaya crossed her arms. "No! I got here first and I want it!"

"Yaya-senpai, perhaps it's better to let her have it," Kairi muttered.

"No!" cried Yaya and Pepe in unison.

"Only we can ride the cutest pony," announced Pepe. She floated in front of the little girl who couldn't see her and glared at her.

"There are lots of other cute ponies," Tadase told Yaya, trying to calm her down.

The little girl gasped. "Onii-san!" She started hugging Tadase. Tadase looked at the girl looking completely dumbfounded.

"Er – do you know this girl?" Nagihiko asked, staring down at the girl.

Rima, who was the most used to obsessed fans said, "Who cares."

"Hey, actually, she looks kinda familiar..." Amu said, tilting her head a bit. A picture of a five-year old girl came to mind.

"Amu-chan, it's that girl from the aquarium!" Exclaimed Ran with her pom-poms in front of her face.

"...Chisa-chan!" Amu and Tadase said at the same time.

"You remembered my name!" squealed Chisa squeezing Tadase to almost-suffocation. "Now we can be married and live happily ever after forever and ever."

Chisa glared at Amu and Amu glared back. Then Amu stopped after remembering the reason that she and the little girl hadn't gotten along. Amu stepped closer to Nagihiko.

Rima looked around. "Am I missing something here?"

"Long story," laughed Amu waving it aside. "It doesn't really matter."

Well, Rima thought it did matter since now Amu was refusing to look at either Chisa or Tadase and Tadase was staring down at the ground.

Chisa, who innocently did not really know what the problem was, said, "Can we ride on the same horse, Prince?"

Tadase twitched. "Prince?"

Oh shoot, Rima didn't have a bucket near her.

"Did you just say 'Prince?'" Tadase started trembling. Kiseki flew up beside Tadase.

Tadase jumped up on a horse on the carousel. "I am a King! You shall not belittle me to such a thing like a prince. Commoners who dare classify me with such things as princes are not worthy!" Tadase started his evil laugh.

Chisa looked horrified at what happened to her 'prince' and ran to her mum.

"Yes!" cheered Yaya getting onto the horse with the pink ribbons. "Thanks Tadase."

But he wasn't finished yet. "I will ride this steed and conquer the whole country, and then, the whole world! Hahahahahaha!"

"Oi, kid! Sit down, the ride's about to start!" the control-man said. Tadase's chara change wore off and Tadase, looking quite embarrassed, sat down on his horse. Kairi, who said it was his obligation as the Jack, tried comforting Tadase, though it was hard when Yaya was sitting on the horse next to him shouting "Whee!"

RIma, who's horse had stopped at mid-height, had difficulty getting onto it. "Stupid thing..."

Nagihiko, who was tall and had no trouble getting onto his horse called from in front of her, "Don't worry, you'll get taller soon!"

RIma mouthed, "You are dead" as Amu helped Rima get on and sat on the horse next to her. The ride started up playing a cheery tune that was always on all carousels. Rima remembered when she used to go on the carousels together with her parents. She always begged to sit on top of her mum's lap because she was afraid of riding alone. Rima shook her head. No point in thinking about things that was long gone. After the event with Tadase's outburst, Rima found the ride dull (Yaya was the one enjoying the ride the most, of course) and she was glad to get off when it ended.

Not that the next ride was better. Yaya was fully in charge of where the group was going. They went on a giant spinning tea cup ride where all of them could fit in one cup. Nagihiko chara changed with Rizumu at Yaya's request and started spinning the tea-cup with all his might. Rima felt like she was going to be sick. Kairi looked like he was struggling to keep his composure while Amu was just screaming her head off.

Then they went to 'The House of Mirrors'. Yaya, Amu and the charas kept making funny faces at the mirrors, which twisted their expression too look more comical than they already were. Rima walked in front of a mirror that made her look tall.

Nagihiko came up next to her and pointed at the mirror. "So is that why you chose that mirror? It does make you look talker."

"Enough with the height jokes," snapped Rima. Then she smirked. "So is that why you chose _that_ mirror? If you want to be fatter I'm sure it won't be hard for you."

Nagihiko looked at his reflection and saw that his mirror made him look much wider. "Very funny."

"Yes, it is," Rima said, continuing to walk.

"- and that's how it creates the reflection shown," Kairi concluded his long-drawn explanation which only Tadase was left to pretend to listen to.

"Um – I think the others have gone ahead of us," Tadase stated.

Kairi looked around. "No! We're getting behind!" And they ran to catch up with the others.

After that they walked around looking at the stalls when Nagihiko was randomly chosen to sit in a box with water beneath him. "Damn it, I hate this game."

"I don't think it's that bad," said Rima, grinning as she threw the ball which hit the bulls-eye, causing Nagihiko to fall into the pool of water.

The others laughed when Nagihiko got out and was soaking wet. Nagihiko eventually laughed too, good-naturedly.

"I don't think that the water is clean," Rima commented quietly. "Because I think I smell something rotten in there."

"I'm sure that there isn't anything there Fujisaki-san," Tadase said, though he didn't sound too sure.

"It actually could have something," said Kairi, peering over at Nagihiko.

"Don't worry, they're only joking," Amu assured Nagihiko with a comforting smile.

"I wasn't," Rima said gruffly, though she didn't think she was heard.

"Hey look! There's another ride." Yaya exclaimed, pointing at another ride. It was the 'Tunnel of Love'.

"That's for couples Yaya," Kairi said. "And the only couple here is Nagihiko and Amu. They could go if they want to."

Nagihiko and Amu immediately turned red.

Yaya pouted. "Aww, but it has hearts and flowers and everything!"

"You can go ahead if you want to Yuiki-san. Me, Sanjou-kun and Mashiro-san will wait here." Tadase suggested.

"But there's gotta be two people! Kairi, you're coming with me and Amu and Nagi are going together." Kairi turned slightly pink and muttered incoherent words.

Amu waved her hands frantically. "No! I don't want to go there." She looked at her charas for help but they just shrugged. "It's...it's...dark! Yeah, it's too dark in there!"

"Oh right, Amu-chi's scared of the dark." Yaya sighed. Then she looked up and grinned. "Then let's go on that!" Yaya pointed at a giant Ferris wheel with a look triumphant look. "Everyone can go on that because no one's scared of heights." Which was true, thought Rima, because everyone present have been on very tall buildings before or even flew.

"I don't know," said Amu doubtfully. "The compartments look really small."

"It's fine, it's fine," Yaya assured her.

Rima didn't have any problems with Ferris Wheels and neither did the others so they decided to start walking towards it. After a few minutes, Rima began to feel tired. The Ferris Wheel's cue was all the way on the other side of the park and it looked much farther than it looked. Then Yaya started running, and Rima heard something about the Ferris Wheel going to start. Kairi, followed Yaya, not wanting to be late again. Tadase, Amu and Nagihiko walked at normal speed since they weren't that bothered. Rima started having to run every few paces to catch up with them, until she finally had to stop.

"Are you okay?" asked Kusu-kusu worriedly.

"Yeah," she replied, still panting.

_Damn it, I wish I could call my slaves_, she thought. She was bent over with her hands on her knees and was panting. A scowl made its way to her face. It was always her that was left behind. She heard footsteps coming towards her and she looked up and raised her eyebrows.

"Your legs still aren't long enough, are they?" teased Nagihiko.

Rima didn't even have the energy to make up a comeback. "Just go ahead. I'll catch up."

"I'll wait, someone has to right? Plus if I left you Amu will be mad."

Again, Rima felt too tired to argue so she let him wait for her while she caught her breath. When her breathing was back to normal she stood up straight and nodded at Nagihiko and they started walking towards the line.

Nagihiko looked over the line. "I can't see Yaya-chan or Sanjou-kun."

"They've probably gone on together already." And she looked up and could just make out a pair of people with orange and green hair. She looked at the line too. "Hey – I think Amu-chan and Hotori-kun just got on."

Kusu-kusu, Temari and Rizumu floated closer to the box that shifted up. "Yep, it's them," said Rizumu.

"I guess that means I'm stuck with you," said Nagihiko.

And then it hit Rima that they were going to be alone on a ride that could sometimes be considered just as romantic as a Tunnel of Love. _No, two just-friends can go on a Ferris Wheel. It's fine. No one said that the person who invented Ferris Wheels meant it to be romantic or anything,_ she thought to herself.

The couple in front of them were going in their box when Rima noticed a small little girl holding hands with both of them. The control-woman nodded kindly at the family before letting them in the box. The father carried the girl onto his lap while the mother smiled happily at the both of them.

Rima then felt a sort of pain in her heart that wasn't related to Nagihiko. But this time she didn't hide her expression, so Nagihiko tried to give her a comforting smile. She did not return it.

They entered their box silently and as the Ferris Wheel started moving, Rima stared out of her window. It felt like as the box moved and she was getting away from the ground the feeling of pain lifted slightly too, slightly, but not completely. Still, it was quite comforting to watch everything get smaller and smaller as they got higher and higher. Their ride stopped at almost the peak of the Ferris Wheel, the spot that everyone always wished they could have.

"You know," Nagihiko said after a few minutes of silence. "You can talk to me about whatever's bothering you."

Rima turned to face Nagihiko. Their conversations so far had been light because of her fear of saying something wrong. But this matter...it was different from what she was normally worried about, and it wouldn't hurt anyone else.

"Okay," Rima said. "I'll tell you."

**xxxxxx**

"Wah! Now we're near the bottom again," Yaya said sadly. She was standing up with her hands against the glass and Pepe floating beside her.

"We did stay at the top for a long time," Kairi, who was sitting down, stated.

"It wasn't that long. Let's go again!"

"I don't think we should."

"Please?"

"No, Yaya-sempai."

Yaya sighed. "I never get what I want."

Kairi had to smile at that. "We've been going wherever you wanted the whole day."

"Not the _whole_ day. We didn't go in the Tunnel of Love, remember?"

Kairi shook his head. "That's only for couples, Yaya-senpai."

"It's not fair," said Yaya stubbornly. "Rides should be for everybody." Pepe nodded her head in agreement. "And they should make these compartments bigger. At least four people should be able to go in one box. Or six. Then we could all go together!" She looked down outside her window. "Or maybe not, since Rima-tan was kinda slow. I think Rima-tan had to go with Nagi."

She felt sorry for Rima, after Rima had been trying to avoid Nagi for some time. She looked at Kairi. "Oh yeah, didn't you like Amu-chan or something like that?"

Kairi turned pink at the sudden random question. Musashi smiled in a secret ninja-like manner. Kairi adjusted his glasses and coughed. "Well that's – not anymore." He coughed again.

"Eh? Really?" said Yaya looking more interested. "Why not?"

Kairi grew flustered at the intense curiosity of Yaya's expression. "It doesn't really matter." He fiddled with his glasses again. "Anyway, Hinamori-san seems to be happy with Fujisaki-kun."

Yaya nodded. "Oh, that reminds me! Tadase and Amu-chi are in the same box." She looked up as if she could see them. "Poor Tadase and Amu."

Kairi knew what she meant nodded grimly.

**xxxxxx**

In Tadase and Amu's compartment it wasn't completely quiet, but mostly because the charas were having a small argument, which was of course started by Kiseki.

"Commoners, get out of the way, I cannot see the view from here," Kiseki complained.

"But Kiseki, there are other sides of glass," Ran said.

The tiny king shook his head. "But a king needs to have the perfect view, and I say the view you four are at is the best one."

"You can just come next to us," said Miki sensibly.

"Fine," Kiseki said, admitting defeat and flying next to Miki.

"Ooh, look, it's a bird-desu," Suu said. "Look Amu-chan."

When Amu did not reply Suu turned around. "Amu-chan?"

Amu was looking down at her feet at fiddling around with her fingers. She still couldn't even look at Tadase. Was it really that hard to start a normal conversation? It was just that stupid little girl. She made the atmosphere awkward, just reminding both her and Tadase about their outing at the aquarium. That was when Amu didn't really know Tadase much and was star struck by him. She even called it a 'date' in her mind. Of course, all that was in the past, Amu reminded herself.

After debating herself about it for a while, she lifted her head up slightly so that she could look at Tadase. He was leaning against his hand and was looking outside. It didn't look like he was going to start a conversation any time soon. Amu took a deep breath.

"Um...Tadase-kun?"

Tadase continued staring outside. Amu was thinking that he didn't hear her when he finally faced her. "Is something wrong, Hinamori-san?"

"Ah, of course not!" Amu shook her head. "I was – er – just wondering how you were. We haven't really talked much since you've got back."

"Oh, well, I guess I'm fine. My mum's really glad to be back at our home. We had housekeepers take care of the house while we were away."

Amu nodded to show she was listening. She even managed to smile a bit. It wasn't that hard to talk to Tadase as she thought. Sure, when she first met him she couldn't get a word out when he was around, but later they were even able to joke around together. "So how's your grandma?"

"She's doing great. She was staying at our house when we were away."

"I didn't know that! But it must get kinda lonely."

"She's still strong for her age, and we called her every week." Tadase had called her every week too, Amu remembered. "And Kiyo really likes it here too."

Kiyo - that was a girl's name. She wondered who Kiyo was. Amu would ask but that would make her look like she was nosy.

"Kukai's already seen her. Maybe I'll let you all meet Kiyo some time."

Introducing Kiyo to them? Were they that close that he wanted to introduce him to everyone? Tadase probably met her when he was away. Come to think of it, he hadn't used any honorific when he was talking about her, and he always used honorifics for everyone. Did she come here with him?

"Amu-chan, are you alright?" After hearing her name, Amu stared at Tadase. But it didn't look like he said anything.

"Oi, earth to Amu-chan!" Suddenly she noticed that it was her charas who were talking to her. Dia looked worried."You were staring into space or something."

Amu, feeling embarrassed that she was caught looking blankly at nothing, turned slightly pink. Tadase didn't seem to notice anything strange so it wasn't like it really mattered.

"So, is Kiyo in our year?" Amu asked in a would-be-casual tone.

Tadase looked confused by her question. "What?"

"Kiyo, the girl you were talking about."

Tadase stared at Amu for a second then let out a laugh. "Kiyo is my new dog, Hinamori-san."

Just then, Amu felt quite silly. But then, how was she supposed to know that it was Tadase's dog? "I didn't know you got a dog," she mumbled.

Tadase smiled. "Well, I always wanted another one." Amu remembered that Tadase mentioned that once before...he left. "I was going to call you and tell you about it...but..." He stopped speaking and looked down awkwardly. Amu couldn't really blame him. They didn't talk after that.

But the silence felt uncomfortable to Amu. There was no sound. Amu realized that the charas had also stopped talking and were talking and were looking solemnly at the two of them.

Maybe silence was better. Words that shouldn't be said would remain in thoughts that way.

**xxxxxx**

In Rima's and Nagihiko's compartment, however, there was no absence of sound. Rima's voice was trembling with hurt, anger, and a sense of betrayal that she thought was long gone. "How _could_ he?" she repeated for about the fifth time, though with no less emotion.

"Oh my," said Temari, while Rizumu had his hands in his pockets and shook his head.

Nagihiko sat there looking overwhelmed by how much Rima was yelling. After hearing her story though, he could understand.

_Rima walked up to the phone and picked it up grudgingly. "Hello," she said. "Mashiro residence."_

_But instead of a man's voice it was a woman's. "Hello. Is your dad home?"_

"_No. Who are you?" she asked._

"_I'm Aki Midorika ...well I guess you could call me a friend of your father. You must be Rima-chan, he's told me a lot about you."_

"_My dad talked about me – to you?" She didn't think her dad would talk to people he worked with about her. She assumed he was working with her anyway._

"_Yes, he talked about you when we were looking at the houses." _

_RIma's eyes narrowed. "What houses?"_

"_Oh! Didn't you know? Your dad is planning to buy a new house, I wanted him to buy the one across the road but he insisted on the one without a swimming pool."_

_Her dad was planning to buy a new house and she never heard about it. And this woman sounded pretty close to her dad. It couldn't be that he was dating this woman or something. It couldn't be._

"_I'm sorry, I have to go. Bye." Before Midorika could respond, Rima hung up._

_Her head throbbed as she thought about what she just heard. It couldn't be, it just couldn't._

Rima felt sick just thinking about that phone call. She clenched her fists so hard that she knew there would be marks when, and if, she ever unclenched them.

"I don't even know who this woman is," Rima said venomously. Even though she wasn't directing her anger at Nagihiko, he looked like he thought it was.

"Maybe he had been dating this woman for a while - " Rima glared at Nagihiko furiously as his voice trailed off. "-and wanted to surprise you..."

"He has no right to! He should have told me that he was seeing someone. He should have told me that he wanted to move in with that woman who's probably some worthless bi-"

"Rima-chan!" Kusu-kusu said anxiously. She had had a grim expression the whole time and had not said a word until now.

"It's probably true! What about me? Is he just going to forget about me after saying everything was going to be normal? And what about Mama? Isn't he going to think about her!" Rima glared at Nagihiko with more intensity, as if challenging him to answer her.

Nagihiko looked outside, sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "Remember that day at the carnival?" He looked at her this time. "Your mum and your dad...their destinies can't be changed by anyone. They've already moved on in their lives."

She jumped to her feet. "They shouldn't have then! Everything was fine as it was before." Her voice was so loud that it was as if she was blaming all of this on Nagihiko. Of course her feelings had already been on edge before this because of Nagihiko. But this and that were two different things.

"But Rima-chan," Nagihiko said softly. "There's nothing you can do."

Silence.

"I know," said Rima so quietly that Nagihiko was surprised, after hearing her shout so loud. Only then did Nagihiko realize that tear was running down Rima's face. "I know."

And Nagihiko was right. It wasn't any of her business. Her parents could do whatever they wanted with their lives, just as she could with hers.

_But still...It's not fair to me. It just isn't fair._

Rima felt a warm hand brush her face and she froze. Nagihiko had wiped a tear away.

He sat back in his seat and chuckled slightly. "I don't think your memory is very good." Rima stared at him. "I told you right? Tears don't suit you."

Rima, feeling slightly embarrassed that she had actually cried in front of Nagihiko wiped her hand on the back of her sleeve. "I knew that."

"Yay!" cheered the charas, seeing that Rima wasn't crying anymore.

Nagihiko rubbed the back of his head. "And – well – you have all of us. And Amu-chan wouldn't like to see you cry. She would probably think it was my fault or something like that."

Rima smiled. "Thank you, Nagihiko. I appreciate it." And that was the sincerest thing she had said to him since a long time.

Nagihiko smiled back. "See, that's better."

The compartment stopped and both Rima and Nagihiko stumbled slightly. The compartment door opened and the two of them and their charas walked out to where Amu and the rest were already waiting.

"That was fun!" Yaya chirped happily. "How'd you guys like it? Oh - " Yaya looked carefully at Rima. "Rima-tan, your eyes look red!"

"What happened?" Amu said immediately at seeing her friend's state.

Nagihiko looked at Rima, who had resumed her usual indifferent expression. "Nagihiko told me I was short. Again. And my eyes grew tired of looking at his face."

"W-what? I never said you were short. Well, not just now!" Nagihiko tried to argue, though he didn't sound convincing since he wasn't prepared to argue with Rima at that moment.

"Nagihiko, did you?" Amu asked putting on a serious expression. Nagihiko saw out of the corner of his eyes that Rima was smirking.

Nagihiko caught on and put on a smug expression as well. "She's just trying to hide the fact that fell down after being too clumsy."

"Is that true, Rima?" asked Amu looking between the two.

"...yes." She gave a fake sigh. "It was worth a try."

The others laughed good-naturedly. Kairi coughed softly and made a show of checking his watch. "I think it's time to go now."

Amu checked her phone. "Shoot! I'm going to be late for dinner."

She looked at Nagihiko who checked his watch. "Yeah, I should be getting home too."

"Hold up!" Yaya said. "If we're going to go, you guys gotta tell me. Was this a super-awesome fun day!"

"YEAH!" the charas cheered.

Yaya looked at the others threateningly. "_Well_?"

"Ahaha...we did have a lot of fun, Yuiki-san," Tadase replied nervously. Yaya looked unconvinced.

"R-really! We did," Amu said, sweat-dropping with the rest.

"Okay!" Yaya held up a victory sign. "Mission complete." She looked around. "Me and Rima-tan are walking home together!" Before Rima could agree or protest, Yaya grabbed her arm and sped away.

After a distance away from the park, Yaya and Pepe were still congratulating themselves at a job well done. Rima and Kusu-kusu looked at each other at laughed.

"Hmm? Why are you in such a good mood?" asked Yaya.

Rima turned her face neutral again. "I'm not."

"Hey! Did something happen in the compartment?"

"No."

"It has to do with Nagi, doesn't it?"

Rima smiled. "No."

"Wahhh! Tell me, Rima-tan!"

Rima shook her head. "I just felt like smiling, that's all." Yaya looked utterly disbelieving. Rima grinned. "Besides, a smile suits me more."

* * *

**A/N: That was a little happier than my other chapters in some ways. After writing this, I'm excited to write the next one, it's gonna get more interesting next chapter 8D Please Review!**


	9. Valentine's Day I

**A/N: Tadaa! Yup, I've finally updated. It's past Christmas and I hope you guys had a good one. Anyway, I'm not going to talk for long, enjoy the story!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Shugo Chara.

* * *

**

Chapter 9 – Valentine's Day I

The February air was full of sweet scents from roses that were put on sale in all flower shops. Chocolate was being sold so quickly that it was lucky that shops were wise enough to stock up on chocolate since December. Of course, the combination of these could only mean one thing was coming: Valentine's Day, a day full of love, happiness, and chances of being accepted.

"I can't wait for Valentine's Day! It's only one day away," said Yaya with an excited expression on her face.

Rima glared at her while Tadase looked down at his food. Yaya sweat-dropped. "Um...sorry..."

Valentine's day was also a day that some people hated and wished that it never existed. An example of a person like this would be Rima. Valentine's Day was like a day made to torture Rima. She supposed Tadase might not like Valentine's Day either.

As if to prove her point, he sighed. "I'm going to need to bring a big plastic bag."

Yaya, who did not have love problems, was happily eating her lunch. "Why do you need to do that?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Rima said. "Fan-girls."

Tadase groaned. "I really don't want to put up with them, but I can hardly tell them to keep their gifts."

"You're too nice to them Tadase," Yaya said. "And anyway, maybe this year there won't be that many girls that are going to give you presents."

Rima rolled her eyes. "Yeah right. I heard a lot of girls talk about what they were going to give you. I'm lucky that I don't have to suffer until a long time."

"I don't know about that. Once Valentine's Day is over White day won't seem a long time away," said Tadase.

Rima shrugged. "If you say so." She placed her chopsticks on the table since she was finished. "I've never heard you complain about it before though, Hotori. What happened last year?"

Tadase grimaced. "To put it simply: I had a girlfriend."

Right. That was probably not a good question to ask, Rima thought.

"Hey guys," said Amu, walking over to the table with Nagihiko.

"Where were you two?" asked Rima.

"Sensei asked us to run an errand," Nagihiko replied.

"I wasn't talking to you."

"What's your point?" When Rima didn't answer he smirked and sat down next to Tadase while Amu sat next to Rima.

Amu looked around at her friends. "So what are you guys going to do after school?"

"I'm not doing anything," Rima said.

"I'm going to go buy chocolates!" said Yaya.

"Oh, who are you giving them to?" Nagihiko asked her.

"Huh? I was going to eat them myself." The group laughed at their friend and Yaya grinned sheepishly. "I guess I should get some chocolate for everyone."

"I have basketball practice," Nagihiko said.

"I'm taking my grandmother to the hospital," said Tadase.

Amu looked at him concerned. "Is she alright?"

Tadase nodded. "Yeah, she just has a bit of a cold."

"Oh..."

"What about you Hinamori-san?"

She played with her food. "Oh, um, I'm...it's a secret."

"What the secret?" asked Yaya excitedly.

"Well it wouldn't be much of a secret if she told us," Rima said.

Ran waved her pom-poms."Don't worry, it's not a bad secret!"

"It's a very good secret! You'll find out tomorrow-desu," said Suu.

"Shut up," Amu scolded them. But Rima guessed that the secret had to do with Valentine's day; Amu was probably going to go buy chocolate for Nagihiko.

"Hmph, well I think Valentine's Day is a waste of time," Kiseki said.

Miki looked at him. "Why would you think that?"

"Because all the commoner are wasting time giving their gifts to other commoners when they should be giving it all to me!"

"I think we get enough chocolate as it is," Tadase said, amused. "And you eat it all anyway."

"Hey! No fair, you should give some to me," Pepe said to Kiseki.

Kusu-kusu giggled."Me too!"

"Me three," Ran said.

"King's don't have to share their chocolate with commoners," said Kiseki.

"You're being selfish again," said Pepe.

The group laughed at their characters conversation. Just then the bell rang to signify that lunch was over. Yaya said goodbye to the group and left to her class. Rima, Tadase, Amu and Nagihiko left to walk to their class together. Amu walked over to Rima while Tadase and Nagihiko were talking about something else.

Amu glanced over her shoulder then whispered to Rima."Hey, are you going to give chocolates to anyone?"

"Of course not," replied Rima, surprised Amu would ask something like that. "Why?"

"Oh...no reason..." Amu said trying to act casual.

Rima looked at Amu suspiciously. "Did someone ask you to ask me?"

Amu, giving in to Rima's stare answered her. "Okay, Daisuke-kun wanted to know." Oh right, he was that guy on the basketball team who gave her that really nice birthday present a few years ago. "I wouldn't have asked but he looked like he really needed to know."

"I'm not that close to him so I don't know why he would ask," Rima said.

Amu looked thoughtful. "Well, I don't think he thought you would give it to him. I think if he knew you weren't giving chocolate to anyone that he'd still have a chance."

"But I've already told him I'm not interested."

Amu smiled. "That was two years ago. Maybe he thought things might have changed." Well he was right about that. Things had changed for Rima quite a bit.

"You're getting chocolates for Nagihiko, right?" A second later Rima felt like hitting her head against the wall for asking such a question.

"Y-yeah I'm making some chocolate!" She turned pink. "Not just for him though, I'm making chocolate for you guys too! It's nothing special."

"If you say so," said Rima with a small smile.

Same old Amu, always too embarrassed to show that she cared.

xxxxx

Rima walked home alone today since everyone was busy. The shops on the roadside were bustling with business as people were doing last-minute shopping for tomorrows Valentine's Day. Kusu-kusu looked around at the place, giggling. "Hey Rima, let's go into one of the shops!"

"Alright," Rima agreed. She had nothing better to do after all and it was a way to pass time before getting home. It wasn't as if her mum was going to be home anyway.

The shop Kusu-kusu floated into was decorated with ribbon hangings which were pink. There was an assortment of plush toys and plush hearts and a whole lot of chocolate. The shop was full of girls, mostly teenagers. Rima recognised some of them from her school. She walked around looking at the transformation of the shop with amusement. Usually, this was where she could buy her latest gag manga.

She browsed the aisles and was looking at the chocolates that were in heart shaped containers. She thought that if things had been different, maybe she would have given chocolates to Nagihiko. Doing that now would be out of the question, of course.

"Tell me why you're getting him chocolates again," said an exasperated voice from behind her.

"Because I like Hotori-kun, you know that!" sounded a voice that was just as exasperated.

Rima turned slightly to look at the girls and they were a pair of girls from her year. More of Hotori's fan-girls, she thought.

"But you _know_ he's not going to accept you. He never accepted anyone! I should know, I was with him in elementary school," the first girl said.

The second girl picked up some chocolates from the shelf. "That's true. But even if he rejects me, it's better to just put your feelings out there! Hey, maybe I'll get lucky."

The first girl rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, let's just get your chocolates and get out of here."

They left for the counter and Rima found that her eyes had strayed back to the box of chocolates. The girl's friend was right; Hotori would probably not accept anyone with what he was like now. But there was something about what the girl said...

Rima looked around to make sure no-one was looking and grabbed the chocolates from the shelf. She hurriedly made her way to her counter. She paid for the chocolates and went outside, with Kusu-kusu following her out of the shop. "Huh? How come you got chocolates?"

Rima's hand tightened around the paper bag's handle but she didn't say anything.

_It's better to just put your feelings out there._

xxxxx

The Hinamori household was noisy as Amu's parents were taking pictures of her sister who had gotten a new dress. "Pose for Papa, Ami!" Amu took this chance to escape from the living room and make her way to her room. She peeked into a pink paper bag on top of her study table.

"Amu-chan, the chocolates are not going to go anywhere!" said Ran.

Amu had been up here a few times already to make sure her chocolates were okay. It might seem like she was being paranoid but her dad had eaten her chocolates once and it did not turn out well. Still, she was quite proud of how they turned out. She had made them all from scratch, with no help from Suu. She had even done the patterns all by herself.

Amu sighed and plopped herself down on her bed. "Do you think he'll like them?"

"Of course he will-desu," said Suu.

Amu hoped so. She did put extra effort into Nagihiko's chocolates to make sure that he would like them. But she was still worried. Amu flipped around so her face was buried in the blankets. "It's no use! He'll probably hate them."

"That's not true," Miki re-assured her. "You tried them yourself, and they were good, right?" True, because of her worry she had even made an extra one to taste so she would know that it would taste good.

Dia smiled. "As long as you put in your feelings to make them, I'm sure he'll like them." She did certainly try hard.

"Thanks guys, I think I'm just over-reacting," said Amu with a sigh.

Ran giggled. "Amu-chan always gets worried before Valentine's Day."

Amu ignored her and got up to walk over to her chocolates again. "I think there's something I need to add." She sat down and drummed her fingers on the table. "I know! I'll write a card to go with it." Amu brought out a pink piece of card and started writing.

_To my dear valentine,_

_Thank you for being such an amazing boyfriend. I'm so lucky to have you and I hope you like my chocolates. Happy Valentine's Day._

_Love Amu._

Amu stared at the card for a few seconds. She banged her head against the table. "That's so embarrassing, did I just write that?"

"Hey, I didn't chara change you so it must have been," Ran told her with a grin.

Miki took a look at the card. "Besides, it looks good. I'm sure Nagihiko will like it."

"Okay guys, just put the card in the box of chocolates with the yellow – oh wait no, that's not Nagihiko's one – the blue ribbon, I mean," Amu said. She got up, not noticing that her charas were not paying attention and were trying to decorate the card. "I'm going to have a shower now."

After Miki was done doing the final touches she looked up to see that Amu was not there. "Where'd Amu-chan go?"

"I think she said she was going to shower-desu," Suu answered. "And umm, she asked us to put the card in the box with the green ribbon."

"Huh? Didn't she say it was the one with the orange ribbon?" Ran asked.

"I think it was the blue one," Miki said.

Dia smiled and shook her head. "I'm positive that it was the yellow one!"

"Oh, I think I did hear her say the yellow one," Suu said.

"Yeah! You're right!" Ran agreed.

Miki looked doubtfully at her sisters. "I'm pretty sure it was the one with the blue ribbon."

Ran took out the box with the yellow ribbon from the paper bag. "You're just saying that because it's your favourite colour. Besides, remember what happened the last time you messed with things that Amu made."

"That was a long time ago! Okay, fine, it's the yellow ribbon," she said, and helped her sisters put the card in the box.

XOXOXO

Rima walked through the school corridor, her school bag feeling slightly heavier than usual. A box of chocolate didn't seem like it would be this heavy. Maybe it was just her; maybe she was imagining it was heavier because she was anxious. This was the right thing to do, she thought. It might take some weight off her shoulders. Because she wasn't looking where she was going, Rima bumped into a girl.

"Hey watch where you're going – " the girl started, but stopped when she realized it was Rima. "Oh, Rima-chan, are you joining the line?"

Rima looked in front of the girl and there was a long line of girls waiting to enter Rima's classroom. She could guess what this line was for. When she entered the room, sure enough, there was Tadase with a giant plastic bag next to him already half-filled with boxes of chocolates. He had a smile on his face and thanked each girl who handed him a box of chocolate, turned red, and ran out of the classroom. She could somehow tell that Tadase was getting tired of it. She couldn't get to her table since there were girls blocking her way and walked over to Tadase's table instead, which was still a hard task.

She turned to everyone and glared at them. "I can't get to my seat. And class is about to start. I'd start leaving now if I were you."

The girls didn't dare question Rima with that cold look of hers, and started filing out of the class, though Rima could hear the girls muttering about coming back at lunch.

Tadase sighed in relief. "I owe you one, Mashiro-san."

"What are you talking about? I didn't do it for you, I needed to get to my seat." Rima took her seat while Kusu-kusu started giggling again.

Tadase chuckled. "Well thanks anyway."

A few minutes later Amu walked in with Nagihiko, she was holding a pink paper bag. Amu had probably already given her chocolates to Nagihiko, Rima thought. Nagihiko went over to talk to one of the guys, who Rima thought was also in the basketball team. Amu sat in her place next to Rima and took out some chocolates from her bag. She held it out to Rima. "I made some chocolates for everyone, hope you like them."

Rima smiled happily and undid the red ribbon and opened the box. Her chocolates were decorated with an 'R' on them for the start of her name. "Thanks Amu!"

"You're welcome," Amu said smiling back.

Rima then noticed that Tadase staring at his table, as if wanting to look at anywhere but Amu. Poor guy, she thought. She was surprised when Amu searched the plastic bag again and took out another box. She turned around to look at Tadase and Tadase quickly got rid of his lost expression and a confused one replaced it. He's getting better at acting, Rima thought.

"Oh Tadase-kun," she held out the box of chocolates to him. "I made some for you too. Just as friends, I mean."

Tadase's expression seemed to relax a bit. "Oh, of course. Thanks Hinamori-san." He took the chocolates from her and Amu turned back to look at the front.

Now Rima really felt sorry for Tadase. What could be worse than a 'Just Friends' chocolate from a person you still loved? It would have been better not to have given him chocolates at all. Tadase put the chocolates in his school bag instead of the giant plastic bag he brought.

Nagihiko headed over to his seat and Rima tensed slightly as he smiled at Amu. She was now very conscious of the chocolates sitting at the bottom of her bag. No changing her mind now.

xxxxx

Tadase had finished his lunch and returned to the empty classroom and sat at his place. One reason was that he wanted to escape the girls that were pestering him during lunch, though there was something else as well. He looked through his school-bag and took out his chocolates and stared at the box.

"Are you going to open it?" Kiseki asked him quietly.

Tadase clenched his hands. They were just chocolates after all. It shouldn't be this hard to open a box of chocolates. After hesitating for quite a while, Tadase finally undid the yellow ribbon and opened the box. He was surprised to see a piece of card in there. He took it out and started reading it.

Tadase's heart nearly stop. The letters words echoed in his head. Suddenly he felt sick. Was this Amu's idea of some kind of joke? Because for one moment just as he read the letter he had a felt a crazy moment of happiness. Even though the words weren't true. And he knew it.

_I made some for you too. Just as friends, I mean._

Friends...that was what they were now. And as a friend Amu wouldn't do something like this. He tried to clear his head and think logically. This card was accidentally put in his box. It was meant for Nagihiko. He looked over at Nagihiko's table and smiled bitterly. Somehow Tadase could not bring himself to hate Nagihiko. It was Tadase's own fault for not being there.

Tadase walked over to Nagihiko's table. He would put the card in Nagihiko's bag, since it was meant for him in the first place. Suddenly Tadase had a bad thought and a small voice whispered in his mind. _Why not keep it? It's not like Nagihiko would miss it since he hasn't seen it yet._ He shook his head to try and clear his thoughts. He bent down and was about to open Nagihiko's bag when he heard Amu call out his name.

He looked up and saw her eyes focus on the card he was holding.

"Oops, I think we put the card in the wrong box," Ran said, looking over at the box on Tadase's table.

"I _told_ you it was the one with the blue ribbon," said Miki.

"Um, yes, I think you accidentally put this in my box," Tadase said attempting to sound casual.

"Did you read it?" Amu asked him her face turning slightly pink from embarrassment.

"Yes...but I didn't know it wasn't supposed to so...I'm sorry..." Tadase tried to smile but he thought it probably came out as a grimace. "Anyway..." He walked over to Amu and gave it to her. "I was just going to put it in Fujisaki-san's bag but since you're here you can give it to him yourself."

Amu looked at the ground. "Sorry about that."

"It's okay," Tadase tried to assure her, though he didn't really believe it himself. "It was just an accident." Amu nodded though she didn't say anything. "I've got to go to my locker. See you later, Hinamori-san."

Tadase walked past Amu with Kiseki floating beside him. Tadase stopped walking a after a while and turned to see Amu still standing near the classroom.

_It was an accident...just like we were._

**xxxxx**

Rima stood in front of Nagihiko's locker, holding the heart-shaped box of chocolates. She had been standing in front of his locker for about five minutes. She really didn't know what she was waiting for. She already knew his locker combination (due to her asking Kusu-kusu to find it out for her) and she had written a note to him. She knew it off by heart, because she planned it in her mind before writing anything down.

_Dear Nagihiko,_

_I don't know why I'm giving you these. I just feel like I have to. You might not like them and you can throw them away for all I care. I still had to give them to you. Oh, and don't bother trying to find out who I am. I won't tell you and I won't say anything else._

_Love...well, it doesn't matter, because you won't be hearing anything like this from me again._

She had made her writing messy so that he wouldn't recognise it as hers. But even if he did, why would he think she wrote it? He thought she hated him. Which she sometimes did.

Rima took a deep breath. This was it. She slowly reached her hand up but froze when she heard someone call her name. Her eyes widened as her heart started to pound. Why was he here? She asked Kusu-kusu to make sure the coast was clear and if it wasn't to distract Nagihiko.

"Rima-chan?" Nagihiko looked at her and then to the box she was holding. She tightened her grip around them. "What are you doing here?" She looked down at the ground, not wanting to answer him.

Nagihiko's eyes widened as well. "Wait, are those...for me?"

...

...

...

...to be continued.

**A/N: Okay, I know, I know, that was a major cliff-hanger...I couldn't help it xDDD I'm excited for the next chapter. So what do you guys think? Will Nagihiko find out about Rima's feelings? And if he does...what will happen? Dun, dun, dun! Oh, since I've updated this story it means that I've updated every single ongoing story I have this month. That's a record for me 8D Hehe, please review x3  
**


	10. Valentine's Day II

**A/N: Tadaa! I'm not going to say much because I want you to read the chapter :) I do not own Shugo Chara.

* * *

**

"_Rima-chan?" Nagihiko looked at her and then to the box she was holding. She tightened her grip around them. "What are you doing here?" She looked down at the ground. _

_Nagihiko's eyes widened as well. "Wait, are those...for me?"

* * *

_

Chapter 10 – Valentine's Day II

So close. She was so close to just letting all her feelings go and now she was going to be exposed. _Hmph, as if._ Rima started laughing and Nagihiko looked at her bewildered.

"What are you laughing at?"

"You thought t-these were for you, haha." Rima pretended to wipe a tear out of her eye from laughing so much. "Did a basketball hit you on your head too hard or something?" Kusu-kusu joined in and started giggling too.

Nagihiko frowned. "Then why are you in front of my locker?"

Rima stopped laughing and looked at him with a surprised expression. "_Your_ locker?" She turned to Kusu-kusu and narrowed her eyes. "You said locker 552 was _his_ locker."

Kusu-kusu giggled. "Oops...I meant 553."

Rima sighed and made it look like she was angry. She glared at Nagihiko. "I wanted to keep this secret. So you better not tell anyone who I'm giving these chocolates to."

He looked as confused as ever. "But locker 553 belongs to...Hotori-kun."

This didn't faze Rima's act. In fact, this was probably a good thing. "Which is why I don't want you to tell anyone." She turned to the locker next to Nagihiko's and started fiddling with the lock. She pretended to ignore Nagihiko's presence.

Nagihiko looked like he understood but still looked a bit doubtful. "Are you being serious?"

"Do I look like I'm joking? Me and Hotori-kun have a lot in common, you know_." Yeah, like having a really bad Valentine's Day._

"A lot in common," Nagihiko repeated. He looked at his guardian characters who didn't seem to have anything to say. He looked back at Rima. "Since when were you close to Hotori-kun?"

"Well we've been spending more time together." And Nagihiko could not say anything about that because that was true.

"Yes...but – did something happen between you two?"

"That's none of your business," Rima said coldly. "Do you happen to know Hotori-kun's combination?" Nagihiko didn't reply and was still frowning. "Well?"

At that moment Tadase Hotori himself walked up to them. "Fujisaki-san? Mashiro-san? What's going on?"

Nagihiko glanced sideways at Rima which Rima pretended not to see. This was her ticket out of this mess. She muttered, loud enough for Nagihiko to hear. "No choice now..." She gripped the chocolate box and pretended to look like she was being hesitant.

"Hotori-kun..." she said. "Could I talk to you...alone?"

Tadase raised an eye-brow at the question. "I – uh – I guess."

She glared at Nagihiko as a way of telling him to leave. After a while he turned and started walking away. _Okay, better make this audible for Nagihiko._

"Hotori-kun," she said making her voice sound only the tiniest bit nervous yet determined at the same time. She shoved the box of chocolates to him acting as though she was also embarrassed and wanted to get it over with. "Please accept them – along with my feelings."

She looked sideways at the end of the corridor and saw Nagihiko's purple hair only just disappearing from view. Good. He must have heard that last part. So now he wouldn't believe that the chocolates were for him anymore. She felt immensely relieved.

"W-what?" said poor confused Tadase. "This is...thank you Mashiro-san but I'm sorry, this is really sudden and I don't understand-"

"Relax Hotori," Rima said.

Kusu-kusu giggled at Tadase's distress. "Don't worry that was just so Nagihiko could see that."

Now Hotori looked relieved. "Oh...good. I mean, not that I don't like you as a friend, Mashiro-san, but-"

Rima waved it off with her hand. "It's okay, I know what you mean."

"Wait." He looked at her sharply. "Why did you want Fujisaki to see that? And why do you have chocolates in the first place?"

"I was going to put chocolates in his locker," she said simply.

"You _what_?"

"It was going to be anonymous."

"Yes...but..." He ran his fingers through his hair. "What are we supposed to do when he asks us about it?" He looked over Rima's shoulder. "And I think someone other than Nagihiko saw you give me the chocolates." Rima looked back and saw a girl peering at them from behind her locker. She realized Rima had spotted her, let out a small scared squeal and run down the corridor.

Rima sighed exasperatedly. "I didn't think about that..."

"Well, I could just say that I didn't accept it and that you were okay with it."Rima glared at Tadase and he flinched. "What?"

"By this afternoon the whole year will know about this. And what will they say when they hear Rima Mashiro got _turned down_?" Okay, she hated to admit it, but her reputation still meant a lot to her. "Plus Nagihiko will get suspicious if you do that and I still hang out with you and Yaya as if nothing happened."

Rima thought quickly about what they could do. "Alright Hotori-kun, for now act as if you haven't decided. At the end of school you'll accept me and we'll pretend to be together for a while. Later, we'll break up with each other on even terms saying that we're better off as friends."

"Ordering a King around, what a nuisance," Kiseki muttered. Rima ignored him. Tadase gave him a warning look but also looked doubtful.

"Is this... I don't know...some way to make Fujisaki jealous or something like that."

"No," Rima snapped feeling slightly offended. "As if Nagihiko would be jealous about anything. You make it sound as if you think he likes me when he obviously doesn't."

"Sorry. You know...it's always in movies and stuff..." Tadase mumbled.

"What movies have you been watching?"

"Hey, Utau-chan used to make me and Ikuto-nii-san come with her to the movies against our own free will."

"Well those movies are stupid then." Rima glanced up at the clock on the wall. "Okay, it's time for class. Let's go."

"Wait, so we're seriously going to do this? This feels like a bad idea."

"You owe me remember?"

"Right..." Rima started walking back to class. Tadase shook his head. "That doesn't mean it's not a bad idea."

xxxxx

Rima and Tadase acted as planned. Rima would steal some glances at Tadase and Tadase would look away and then look back at Rima when she wasn't looking. Of course, since a lot of the class had heard about the incident they were watching them carefully and their actions did not go unnoticed. Nagihiko couldn't see what was going on since he was in front of the two of them but he sometimes turned back to look at them. Amu was sitting next to Rima and caught the gestures and was looking puzzled. The news didn't seem to have reached Amu's ears, but they were purposely making their actions so obvious that even she could tell that something was happening.

After the last bell rang Tadase stood up. Ignoring the bad feeling he had, he reminded himself that he did in fact owe her and had to do this. He walked over to her.

Now was the time to put Tadase's acting skills to the test. "Mashiro-san...about the chocolates you gave me."The whole class fell silent and watched them attentively waiting to see what would happened. Nagihiko was watching them closely and Amu dropped her books in surprise. Tadase glanced at her, though she didn't notice. "I...accept your feelings."

And now it was Rima's turn to respond. And expertly, she made her eyes light up happily. "Thank you...Tadase-kun." Silence.

_Wait for it_...Rima thought. _Wait for it...and..._

"Kyaa!"

"Nooo Tadase-kun!" girls screeched.

"Queen Rima – why!"

_And the crowd goes wild!_

The class exploded with noise and it was lucky that no teacher was around.

Amu and Nagihiko walked over to the two of them.

"Congratulations," Nagihiko said. Amu stared at Rima looking lost for words.

"Sorry Amu-chan, I know I told you I wasn't going to give chocolate to anyone but I wasn't sure how it'd turn out," Rima said.

"No, this is great!" Amu said. "Congratulations you guys."

Rima and Tadase took this as a cue to look at each other and decided to smile sheepishly.

"Should we go, Rima-chan?"Tadase said, offering her his hand.

She took it and they left the classroom together. They had managed to convince Amu and Nagihiko. Mission accomplished.

_The best actor awards go to Rima and Tadase, _Rima thought in her head.

Once they were out of the school gates they looked around and then let go of their hands.

"That wasn't so hard was it?" Rima said, feeling, she had to admit, very proud about being able to act like that.

"I'm not even going to answer that," said Tadase.

"Well, it worked anyway." Seeing as Tadase still wasn't convinced she sighed. "Oh and sorry for suddenly using your given name like that."

Tadase shook his head. "It's okay. I had to use yours too. Makes it more convincing right?"

Rima was about to nod when she heard a yell. The two turned around to see Yaya speeding towards them.

"Shoot...we forgot about Yuiki-san," Tadase said.

Before Rima could say anything Yaya was shouting at them. "WHAAT! Is it true? Are you guys a couple? How did _that_ happen?"

"No it's not true, no we're not a couple, and this is just an act so people would think it's true," Rima replied calmly.

Yaya stopped shouting and giggled. "Oh, so that's it! Haha, I thought I was missing something." Tadase sweat-dropped at that. "But, why would you want people to think you're dating?"

After a long explanation by Tadase, because Rima didn't feel like it, Yaya looked at them both impressed. "So how long are you going to keep the act up?"

"Maybe about a week," said Rima. "It depends on how fast the excitement dies down."

Yaya grinned mischievously. "Hehe, when it dies down? You mean _if_ it dies down. That's unlikely."

"What do you mean Yuiki-san?" Tadase asked Yaya.

"You'll see tomorrow," she said grim tone.

Yaya being grim? Only now did Rima begin to see how this was a bad idea.

xxxxx

"Anything bothering you?" Nagihiko asked Amu as they walked back from school together. They left a while after Rima and Tadase had left.

"Well...yes," Amu admitted. "It's just that I didn't notice anything between them before."

Nagihiko knew who she meant and nodded. "It was unexpected."

"I think I'm just wondering _why_ it was a surprise." Amu frowned. "When it comes to Rima I thought we were really close. I don't know...I thought that she would tell me something that important to her." She looked down. "But I guess I feel like we're sort of...drifting apart."

Rhythm nodded by Nagihiko's shoulder. "Yeah things are very dramatic right now."

"Hey! I'm not dramatising anything, I'm just saying what it feels like," Amu said.

Nagihiko shook his head. "I think what Rhythm is trying to say is that lots of things are happening this year and maybe things are changing a little bit. Don't worry I'm sure you two can hang out again."

"Yeah...but we did have this conversation before," said Amu.

Ran flew in front of Amu. "Yes! So second time's the charm! Or was it third...oh well then second and third can both be charms!"

Amu had to laugh at that and the rest of the charas and Nagihiko joined in.

_Maybe we can hang out tomorrow, _Amu thought brightly. _ Oh, but she must want to spend some more time with Tadase-kun first. I should hang out with her next week. With Yaya too, since the three of us haven't had an outing for a while time. Maybe I can even invite Utau._ She imagined Utau's face at the question. _Ehehe...maybe not, since she's busy with that upcoming concert at the moment._

Amu looked to the right and saw the park that she always went to.

_I wonder if Tadase-kun is going to take Rima there. Maybe they're there right now._

xxxxx

Rima and Tadase walked to school together the next day, holding hands, of course, to keep up the act. Now Rima knew what Yaya meant.

"I still can't believe it," she heard a girl whisper. "It's not _fair_."

"But it's expected right? They were the King and Queen chair of the Guardians in elementary school, remember?"

But it seemed that the whispers that were usually like small sparks popping up here and there now seemed to Rima like a furious flame spreading across the school.

"What's with the atmosphere?" Rima whispered quietly to Tadase. She didn't really need to ask, but it would let everyone see that she was talking to him though they couldn't hear them. And the stares were starting to bother her.

"I guess this was what Yuiki-san was talking about," Tadase replied, also in a whisper. "I don't think a lot of people are happy about...this arrangement."

Rima guessed that Tadase's fan-girls were not happy at the moment. Rima's fan-base was probably much smaller than Tadase's so they might not be a problem. Girls could sometimes be more dangerous than boys, because they didn't need to attack you directly to hurt you. But really, who would try to hurt Rima?

"I think you were right...this wasn't one of my best ideas."

Tadase grimaced. "No way to change it now. One week shouldn't be that long."

"Let's just get to class already."

Rima and Tadase entered the room and the room went silent. Though the venomous glares directed at Rima did not go unnoticed. Rima sat down and Tadase did too, giving Rima a smile to try and re-assure her. This smile also came out more of a grimace which was not at all re-assuring. Rima smiled back nonetheless.

_Why didn't Amu and Nagihiko have this kind of problem? Unless everyone can tell that this is fake and are angry at me. _Rima shook her head. The students in this class couldn't spot acting.

Rima saw Amu and Nagihiko come in the room and take their seats. Amu leaned over and whispered to Rima. "How did it go?"

Rima was confused for a moment, until realizing that everyone must think that Tadase and Rima went for a date. "It was..." What to say? 'Good' would not be a sufficient answer. 'Magical' was just being sappy and Rima was not sappy.

Rima turned to Tadase and smiled sweetly as if she remembered a good memory. Tadase noticed this, and smiled back. Not answering at all, that would be the most believable thing to do. She was lucky that Tadase had caught on.

Amu looked between the two and smiled as well. "I guess that means it went well. Where'd you guys go?"

Rima wondered why Amu was so interested. _Did Nagihiko tell her about me being near his locker? Does she suspect anything?_ Rima quickly studied Amu's expression. It looked only curious.

"To the park," Tadase answered. "Rima-chan wanted to eat some ice-cream there."

Amu smiled wider. "Oh, that sounds nice." Then she turned to her bag and looked through her things. Rima noticed that her characters were looking at each other with anxious expressions. Amu was acting a bit strange but Rima couldn't put think what it was.

And neither could Amu.

Amu had a memory flash through her mind at the mention of the park and ice-cream. And that memory wasn't supposed to be there. Amu looked at Nagihiko. He was talking to his characters and didn't see Amu looking at him.

Amu then relaxed as she had some memories of her dates with Nagihiko come to her. She smiled contently. That was better.

And she didn't notice Nagihiko turning around slightly. He looked at Amu, then at Tadase, and finally at Rima. He frowned as he had yesterday and turned back to the front.

xxxxx

Nagihiko gritted his teeth and he jumped and tried to make a shot. It was no good; the ball missed the hoop completely. He glared at the ball, as if it was its fault that he was missing.

"Nagihiko, what's wrong?" Temari asked him worriedly.

Nagihiko looked up at the hoop. "I don't know." But he knew what was wrong perfectly well.

"Whatever it is, why don't ya give it a rest and take some time to chill," said Rhythm.

Nagihiko ignored him. He picked up the ball and bounced it a few times, before shooting.

It missed.

_Get a grip Nagihiko, _he thought to himself. _It was done months ago. It shouldn't matter anymore. Your games in a few weeks and you have to practice._ And this was the reason that he came out for extra practice after school in the first place, other than wanting to clear his head from what was bothering him. Usually basketball would help him relax, but it wasn't working today. He picked up the ball again and stared hard at it, as if wanting it to tell him what to do.

He heard familiar voices speaking and looked towards the path next to the basketball court. He saw Tadase and Rima walking past. Tadase was laughing and Rima seemed embarrassed about something. She looked away from Tadase and seemed as though she was muttering something. Suddenly her eyes met Nagihiko's.

She glared at him and then went back to talking to Tadase.

Nagihiko watched them go, frustrated. What did he do _this_ time? He threw the ball carelessly at the hoop. He didn't even look to see if it got in or not. He started making his way to the changing rooms.

He really couldn't concentrate at basketball at the moment.

* * *

**A/N: Ahh, this was supposed to be a good chapter but I feel like there was something missing.** **Oh, well I'm still quite happy with how it came out.**

**...hehe. I so wanted to put an author's note where Nagihiko says it's Tadase's locker saying 'A/N: OH YES I DID!' But that would've ruined the moment at the time. **

**Anyway, Nagihiko can't concentrate on basketball. I wonder why? Lol okay, I can't even act mysterious anymore. You guys know why 8D**

**And because I'm so nice, here is a preview of the next chapter.**

Kukai walked into the changing room after a long session of practicing football by himself. He, like Nagihiko, had a tournament coming up. He was about to change when he heard a strange clanging sound. Feeling curious, he peered around the row of lockers and gasped.

"Nagihiko! What the hell are you doing?"

Nagihiko had a hand against his locker and his head bent down. He turned his face to Kukai once he heard his voice. "Oh, nothing."

"What do you mean nothing? You were hitting your head against the locker. Are you trying to give yourself a concussion or something?"

"...maybe."

Kukai sat down on the bench next to the lockers. "Do you have anything you need to talk about?"

"No." Nagihiko paused. "Wait...yes."

"Great!" Kukai said enthusiastically. "Let's hear it! Er – Nagihiko?"

Nagihiko was trembling. He turned around and pointed a finger at Kukai. "This whole mess is your fault!"

Kukai jumped, startled. "My fault? What the heck are you talking about?"

**A/N: Kukai and the rest of you will find out 'what the heck' Nagi is talking about in the next chapter. Hehe, I'm not that nice after all. Actually I decided to give this preview because you guys are the nice ones. I can't believe I have 100+ reviews. You guys are the best T^T -happy tears-  
**


	11. The Other Side of the Story

**A/N: TADAA! I AM ALIVE 8D Yup, yup. And here with a new update...hehe I think this is the chapter I most looked forward to writing xD Anyway, this chapter is dedicated to my friend Antoinette, because she loves this story and her birthday is today! (Well technically, April 29****th**** but we don't have one this year x33)**

**

* * *

**

Chapter 11 – The Other Side of the Story

Rima sighed as she closed the door of her locker. It had been a long day and ignoring glares of jealous girls tired her out. She had been used to it in elementary school but after around two years of not having this kind of treatment she realized how much she didn't like it. Luckily this would only last for one week.

"Rima, are we going to watch King of Comedy tonight?" Kusu-kusu asked her.

"Of course." They always watched that show together. Kusu-kusu really didn't even need to ask. Maybe it was so that Rima could get her minds off things. She smiled at her characters thoughtfulness.

"Talking to yourself?" Rima whipped around and found herself glaring at Saaya Yamabuki and her gang of girls. Of course. Saaya was probably Tadase's fiercest fan-girls.

"No." Rima closed her eyes and flipped her hair. "You must be hearing things."

Saaya glared at Rima. Rima wondered what was up with this direct confrontation. Saaya usually never had the confidence to do something like this. Sure, she was always quite jealous of both her and Amu, but she never actually did anything to them. Rima had a feeling that this time it was different. Maybe it had something to do with the return of Tadase.

Saaya crossed her arms and made herself look tall. Rima was unfazed by this, since everyone was taller than her anyway. "What does Hotori-kun see in you anyway?" Saaya flipped her hair. "After all, I'm much prettier, smarter and more athletic than you." Rima would give Saaya one on the more athletic but other than that –

"I think you've got it the wrong way round." She wasn't going to answer the 'what-he-sees-in-you' question since this wasn't actually a real romantic relationship. Her silence would also make her more threatening, she knew.

When she didn't answer, Saaya snapped as Rima thought she would. "As if!" She hesitated slightly, though, and Rima smirked. At the sight of that Saaya grew angrier. "Hmph, well at least I didn't get kidnapped because of my looks."

Rima flinched at that. It had always been a sensitive subject to her. How the hell did Saaya even know about it? Only the former-guardians (and Kairi) knew about the incident. She never talked about it and she didn't want to. Unfortunately, Saaya looked like she knew that she hit a nerve.

"Hah, you're probably wondering how I knew about this. You see, I have resources. My daddy has an influence with the newspaper and I happened to read an old article about it. Surprised I found out, aren't you?"

"I'm surprised you can even read." Rima smirked again, as Kusu-kusu giggled. Saaya didn't hear Kusu-kusu, of course, but she turned red and glared at Rima. The girls standing behind her didn't laugh and imitated Saaya.

"How do you think it'd feel like to be taken again? I'm sure it's not very pleasant." She clicked her fingers and one of her girls gave her a group of keys. "These are keys to the school store-room. You'll think about how you'll talk to me next time. You'll have a long time to think to yourself in that small cramped cupboard."

"I'm not afraid of you," Rima said coldly. And she wasn't. She had no intention of spending time in a cupboard and she would have laughed at the thought of Saaya overpowering her. But Saaya clicked her fingers again and her group of girls surrounded Rima, grabbing her roughly by the hand and pulling her.

Rima struggled against the girls, but she was out-numbered and before no time at all they were at the front of the storeroom. It was very dark and very small and suddenly Rima remembered the van that the man who tried to kidnap her was going to take her in. She struggled frantically, panicking and having flashbacks about that day.

Saaya, smirked and Rima knew she liked to see her squirm, but she couldn't help it. The girls shoved her onto the floor and Rima felt tears threatening to come to appear. Saaya right in front of her, the other girls standing outside the door looking more triumphant than Rima had ever seen her.

"I hope you feel comfortable on that floor. You're going to spend a whole night there."

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Amu stood at the door-frame, giving Saaya the coldest look imaginable. Kusu-kusu was floating next to Amu, giving Rima a worried look.

"None of your business."

Amu pushed Saaya out of her way and helped Rima off the floor. "Are you okay?" she asked, concerned.

Rima blinked a few times, making sure there were no tears and then replied in soft tone. "Yes..."

Amu smiled warmly at her before her expression changed to a fierce one and she was glaring at Saaya. "I thought you were better than this."

Saaya, still being unbelievably smug flipped her hair. "You thought wrong."

Amu narrowed her eyes. "Let me get this straight," she said in an icy tone. "If you _ever_ touch my best friend again – let's just say that it won't be good for you." Saaya suddenly looked like her old self, the one who was intimidated by Amu.

Amu took Rima's hand and they walked out of the school. They stopped after a while and Amu asked if Rima was okay again.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Thank you."

"No need to thank me. If it wasn't for Kusu-kusu I wouldn't have known about this."

"Thanks to Kusu-kusu too, then." Rima said, smiling warmly at her chara, who giggled and sat on Rima's shoulder.

"I can't believe Saaya would try to do such a mean thing," Suu said with a sad tone.

"That girl has issues," said Miki.

"She needs therapy," Amu commented, which made Rima laugh.

Amu's expression brightened up, and Rima realized that her face had looked tense and worried. "Hey! I made you laugh!" Amu looked quite proud of herself, seeing as how Rima was hard to entertain.

"For once." Rima smiled and they both laughed together. "So what would you do if Saaya tried anything like that again?"

Amu sweat-dropped. "I don't actually know. The words sorta seemed to come out of my mouth since I was really angry." She looked suspiciously at her charas. "Was I chara-changed with anyone?"

"No!" the four charas said in unison. Amu sighed.

"Well, we could always get Tadase-kun to say he hated her or something like that," Rima suggested, imagining the look on Saaya's face if Tadase said that. Sweet, sweet, revenge that would be.

Amu laughed at how serious Rima looked. "Nah, Tadase-kun wouldn't do that."

"Hey, he might if you asked him to!" Ran told Rima enthusiastically. "Come on! He couldn't say no to Amu-chan when he was dating her."

Sometimes that pink guardian character talked to much. Amu blinked and frowned.

"What's your point? I'm not Amu-chan." _...I don't think that came out right,_ Rima immediately thought.

"Rima-chan, Hinamori-san!"_ Speaking of the devil. Or not. I wonder if you can actually use that phrase with Tadase, it doesn't suit him. _Well, anyway, speaking of Tadase, here he was now, walking up to Rima and Amu. "I was looking for you Rima-chan. Let's walk home together." And he smiled his Tadase-smile at her

"Hi, Tadase-kun. Sure!" Rima added a giggle, for effect, and took Tadase's hand and waved at Amu. "Bye."

"Bye Rima-chan."

And again, a few metres away from the school gate, they let go of each other's hands.

"I think you over-acted a bit there," Tadase said.

"Hey, better to over-act than under-act, that's what I always say," said Rima.

"You don't always say that."

"Whatever...but you know what I mean."

"I don't know if I do."

Rima rolled her eyes. "Never mind. Just make sure you don't actually fall in love with me." Tadase raised an eyebrow at her. "You know! One girl dates a boy to impress this other boy and the two pretending fall in love."

"So you _are_ doing this to try to get Fujisaku jealous!"

"_I'm not_," Rima said so quickly and loudly that Tadase started laughing. Rima looked away from Tadase, feeling displeased. She knew that she totally set herself up for that.

They were just passing the basketball court. She realized that Nagihiko was standing in the middle of the court alone and was looking up. Rima's heart skipped a beat when their eyes suddenly met. But she did what she had to do and glared at him and turned back to Tadase.

"What's wrong?"

"Nagihiko."

"Oh." Yes, that name alone was enough to understand now.

"Anyway," Rima continued as if nothing had happened. "I'm serious! Do not fall in love with me because I have enough problems as it is."

"Don't worry, I couldn't fall in love with you even if I tried."

Rima blinked. Alright that was cold! Especially coming from Tadase who was...well, never cold!

Seeing Rima's expression Tadase smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, that's not what I meant." He sighed. "Let me rephrase that. Do you think I'm capable of falling in love with anyone else but Hinamori-san ?"

"Anything's possible," is what Rima would say to anyone else but in Tadase's case... "Sorry, forget I even said anything." Because she knew exactly how he felt.

XOXOXO

Kukai walked into the changing room after a long session of practicing football by himself. He, like Nagihiko, had a tournament coming up. He was about to change when he heard a strange clanging sound. Feeling curious, he peered around the row of lockers and gasped.

"Nagihiko! What the hell are you doing?"

Nagihiko had a hand against his locker and his head bent down. He turned his face to Kukai once he heard his voice. "Oh, nothing."

"What do you mean nothing? You were hitting your head against the locker. Are you trying to give yourself a concussion or something?"

"...maybe."

His two characters were signalling Kukai from behind Nagihiko, telling pointing at Nagihiko frantically.

Kukai sat down on the bench next to the lockers. "Do you have anything you need to talk about?"

"No." Nagihiko paused. "Wait...yes."

"Great!" Kukai said enthusiastically. "Let's hear it! Er – Nagihiko?"

Nagihiko was trembling. He turned around and pointed a finger at Kukai. "This whole mess is your fault!"

Kukai jumped, startled. "My fault? What the heck are you talking about?"

"This whole thing with Hotori-kun, Amu...and Rima-chan," Nagihiko snapped, looking like he was about to punch Kukai.

"Nagihiko!" Temari cried.

"Stay cool. Character change!" Rhythm said. After a few minutes being in Rhythm's character change, Nagihiko and Kukai sat down on the benches with Nagihiko breathing deeply, who (luckily for Kukai) didn't want to punch Kukai anymore.

"Okay Nagihiko," Kukai said. "If you have some kind of problem, you're going to have to start at the beginning."

Nagihiko took one more deep breath. "Alright. Sorry for...losing it just now."

"That's okay, man! I'll hear you out!" Kukai and Daichi did their signature thumbs-up.

"Here goes nothing. Okay, remember Operation: G.B.T.?"

"Yeah. That didn't work out at all, and it wasn't my fault."

xxxxx

_Four months ago..._

Nagihiko rang on Kukai's doorbell. One of his brothers welcomed him in and he ran into Kukai's room. "What's the emergency?" He sweat-dropped when he saw Kukai lying down on his bed, playing on his PSP. "Oi!"

"Wait...wait a minute."

Nagihiko did not come all the way here to wait a minute and he waled over to Kukau and took his PSP. And turned it off.

"Two steps ahead of you, Fujisaki." Kukai smirked. "I already saved it!"

Nagihiko grinned and threw the PSP at Kukai who was not as good as Nagihiko with his hand-work, fumbled with it before it landed on his bed.

"But seriously, what's the emergency?"

Kukai put his PSP under his pillow and sat up. "I was on the phone with Tadase just now." He frowned and shook his head. "He's obviously not doing too well. The tone of his voice is just...different."

"Different?" Daichi said. "He sounds like he's dying!"

Nagihiko sighed and sat down on Kukai's bed. "And we know Amu-chan's not her usual self either."

Amu had been in a state of near-depression the past few weeks. She wouldn't tell anyone what was wrong but they all knew that it had to do with her and Tadase's break-up.

"So, we have to do something!"

Nagihiko was surprised. Kukai wasn't usually one to mind other people's business. But Nagihiko saw where he was coming from, he just wanted his friends to be happier. "Okay, so what do you have in mind?"

"Operation: G.A.A.T.B.T." Kukai said.

Nagihiko blinked. "Operation what?"

"It stands for Operation: Get Amu and Tadase back together." Daichi grinned. "I made it up!"

Nagihiko blinked again. "That's a long name."

Kukai and Daichi frowned. "Alright!" Kukai said. "We'll make it Operation: G.B.T. – get back together. Happy now?"

"Yes – and no." He looked at Kukai sceptically. "How are we going to do that? They won't tell us why they broke up. I have the feeling that even Hotori doesn't know why. And to top it off they haven't spoken to each other since."

"See that's where you come in." He grinned confidently as if he knew exactly what he was doing which probably meant that things would go very wrong. "Think about it! You're her best friend right? She'd listen to you!"

Nagihiko for once listened to Kukai and thought about it. Amu would probably listen to him. She asked for his advice many times...well Nadeshiko's advice, but same thing.

"It's worth a shot," his female character whispered to him.

"Alright, when?"

"Hmm, you guys need to talk privately. Go shopping or something and then when she's feeling all happy say something about Tadase."

"You know, if we were going to go shopping together Rima-chan would want to follow."

Kukai's grin widened. "See, I'm ahead of you, again! I've already asked Yaya (bribing her with candy, but that's a minor detail) and she said that Rima has a dentist appointment tomorrow. It'll be Saturday so you can go anytime!"

"I still don't think this is a good idea..."

"Just go with it! What's the worst thing that could happen? Plus, I'll be with you."

Nagihiko was surprised. "You're coming?"

"Yep. My spirit will go with you while I stay home and play my PSP."

Nagihiko just about managed to hold back a face-palm. _I should have known. _

xxxxx

_Two days later..._

Nagihiko glanced at Amu as he walked her to her house. He thought that the shopping went well, Amu was in a fairly good mood. He told his characters not to say or do anything. Even a small comment or character change might ruin the plan. _Operation: GBT is going smoothly so far, though..._

"That was fun wasn't it?" Amu said, smiling.

"Yes, it was," Nagihiko said. _Alright, now for the confrontation – did I just think 'confrontation?' alright, I think Kukai's spirit is actually here or something._ "Hey, you feel fine now, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I don't know...it just seems like you've been down lately. You're smiling now. You haven't been smiling lately." Nagihiko was about to ask what happened with Tadase when she cut in.

"Only because I'm with you."

Nagihiko blinked. _She's down because she's with me? Or smiling when she's me? "_Well I like it when you smile." _It's better to smile than to be depressed. I think I told Rima-chan that once. _ Nagihiko smiled at the thought of her. Kukai's spirit interrupted him though, _Oi! Operation: GBT here, as in Tadase and Amu, not Operation Get You Together with Rima. _

Nagihiko snapped back to attention and saw that Amu looked...distant? Shoot, maybe she was going back to depressed-mode. "I like everything about you." _There! Amu-chan's always worried about her four characters. That should cheer her up._

Amu smiled at him and he saw her clips change to heart-shaped. Nagihiko grinned inwardly and mentally high-fived Kukai. "I like you too." Amu suddenly looked down. "Maybe...more than a friend. I mean, I know this is sudden, but you're my best friend and you're so easy to talk to."

_Oh, that's nice. Hah, I told Rima-chan that _I_ was her best friend. Wait 'till she hears about this._

Amu then looked straight at Nagihiko, now without her character change. "I'm just...happy when you're around."

Spirit-Kukai nudged him. _Oh no, look at her eyes._ Nagihiko looked at her properly and realized she had that look that she used to have with Tadase.

_What-? Wait – she meant romantically! Oh no, she's serious and she's not even character changed. Oh crap. Oh crap. Oh crap. RED ALERT KUKAI. RED ALERT. HELP!_

Spirit Kukai seemed to have abandoned him when Nagihiko needed him most. Nagihiko looked at her properly again, just to see if he was seeing things.

Nope. It was there, he recognised it because he had seen that look for more than three years.

He had to reject her. But he could hardly say, "Oh sorry, I don't like you in that way. But Tadase still loves you. You should call him." That made him sound like he just wanted to get rid of her and she would be doubly depressed. And that ruined the whole point of the plan. He should've said something earlier. He needed help from his characters. He looked at them but they shook their heads. He did tell them not to help.

But there was no going back, and he really could not say no especially with Amu's unstable emotional state.

Nagihiko, with one enormous effort, smiled. "I like you too."

And Amu's face turned back to the one he knew long ago and she rushed up and hugged him. Nagihiko, with another effort, hugged her back.

Amu's characters were squealing with happiness while his characters were trying hard not to look as if anything went wrong.

Suddenly Rima's face popped up in his mind before fading away.

Spirit-Kukai came back and shook his head gravely. _I'm going to kill you when I find out tomorrow. _Spirit-Kukai was fading too, but he managed to say. _Whatever you do, don't tell Tadase. We don't need two dead people in one day._

xxxxxx

_The next day..._

Nagihiko once again found himself in Kukai's room, though he sat down on the floor rather than on Kukai's bed. Kukai was grinning, waiting to hear the good news. The non-existent good-news, that is. "So what happened?"

"...I became Amu's boyfriend."

And there was a silence.

"YOU WHAT!" Nagihiko winced at how loud Kukai was.

"Just hear me out, okay?" Nagihiko said, and explained what had happened the day before.

Kukai stared at him when he was finished. "Idiot. You are an idiot." He was so frustrated that he got off his bed. "Why didn't you just say no!"

"Then there'd be three dead instead of two!" Nagihiko said. "Amu would have been really depressed."

"I have no idea what you meant about the three instead of two but Amu was already depressed. How much worse could she feel? Seriously! You could've have told Tadase to call Amu and he could comfort her and they might have gotten together."

"That's..." 'ridiculous' he would have said, but Kukai had a point. There could have been another way. He had panicked and wasn't thinking straight. And now they were in one big mess.

"And Tadase..."

"Don't worry, I know, don't tell him, you already told me."

Kukai was surprised. "I didn't tell you."

"Yes you did, your spirit did, anyway."

"Er – I was on a date with Utau yesterday. I needed all my spirit with me, especially with that intense Ramen Contest we had."

"Who won?"

"Me of course – hey, don't change the subject!" Kukai ran his fingers through his hair. "Okay, let's just make sure Tadase doesn't find out."

"Right. Act as if you didn't know about this tomorrow okay? I don't think Amu wants a lot of people to know, she doesn't want that much attention."

"Fine." Kukai sighed. "I'm failing really badly at being Tadase's best-friend."

Nagihiko smirked. "Since when were you his best-friend?"

"Since...well...since he first joined the Guardians of course." Kukai crossed his arms. "Remember? He joined before you did."

"Really, I thought he was closer to me?" Nagihiko grinned. "He did keep my secret."

Kukai scowled. "You want to be everyone's best friend! Besides, he's Tadase! He's good at keeping secrets. I think...And you still call him Hotori!"

"Hmph, okay...maybe I'm not his best friend. But that would make Tsukiyomi his best friend."

"What? No! He's more like family. He told me."

"But don't you always call yourself the big brother of that group?"

"THAT'S IT! Let's have a soccer match, one on one! Whoever wins is right!"

And with that, the boys left the room, forgetting their self-caused problems.

XOXOXO

"And I won that game!" Kukai said proudly.

"Yeah, yeah, if we were playing basketball the story would have been different."

The two laughed. Then Kukai stopped and looked at Nagihiko confused.

"Wait, but I already knew all this!"

"Yeah, but remember that one part that I told you I was thinking about Rima-chan?"

Kukai nodded.

"The thing is...I've been trying to make this work with Amu-chan, I actually felt quite happy for a while." Nagihiko closed his eyes. "But...Rima-chan, just after we got together - whenever she looked at me. It's as if she was asking me for an explanation."

Kukai's eyebrows shot up. "Meaning?"

"I think...I think she...might have liked me." Nagihiko sighed. "Or something like that."

Kukai was silent for a while. "Well I knew that!"

Nagihiko was surprised. "You did?"

Kukai laughed. "It's not like you guys were subtle with your flirting."

Nagihiko turned pink. "I did not flirt."

Kukai's expression went, _yeah right_. Nagihiko looked at his characters. Rhythm was smirking and Termari giggled. Great, even his characters were against him. Then Kukai's expression turned serious. "So do you have feelings for her now?"

Nagihiko looked as if he wanted to carry on hitting his head against the lockers. "Yes. No. I don't know! ...okay yes. But she seems to have gotten over me...she looked really happy when she was talking to Hotori-kun. He seems to be over Amu too."

"So let me get this straight. You are dating Amu because you don't want to break her heart. You think you still have feelings Mashiro. She and Tadase have moved on and are now dating. What are you going to do?"

"I don't know."

"You know what?"

"What?"

"Your life is messed up."

And it was so true, that unbelievably, the two burst out laughing.

* * *

**A/N: I'm really too lazy to say anything right now x3 Oh wait, I got something...I realized I love writing Kukai! Especially Spirit-Kukai xD ****And, I think that it was four months ago..yeah, I'm not good with my own timeline..deal with it! x3****Just review and tell me what you thought of the story! 8D  
**


	12. Family Ties

**A/N: This chapter was painfully hard to write, I had a major writers block for since February, I know it's been months and I'm sorry, but here I am with an update. As the title suggests the chapter revolves around family, but I wanted to do some character development, which is the reason for it.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Shugo Chara! Or any of its characters, they belong to Peach-Pit.**

* * *

Chapter 12 - Family Ties

Rima opened the door to her father's house in a very bad mood. She was soaked with water from the top of her blond head to the bottom of her petite feet. She cursed herself for not bringing an umbrella to school. Tadase had to stay down at school to tutor some other student, and Amu and Nagihiko had already left. Yaya, of course, forgot to bring her umbrella as well.

The small girl shut the door and listened for any sign that her father was home. The house was silent, except for a faint rustling sound. She walked into the living room, and sure enough, her dad was sitting on the armchair reading the newspaper.

She nearly said 'I'm home' as she would have when she had lived with both her parents. She bit her lip and started climbing the stairs towards her room when her father surprised her by speaking.

"Rima," he said, not looking up from his newspaper. "Get dry and wear something decent, one of those dresses I bought you that you never wear. We have a guest coming over."

"Yes Papa," she said, wondering who the guest might be. She waited to see if he would say anything else, but he didn't.

Rima sat on her bed and curled up into a ball. She wasn't in the mood to wear something fancy for someone she didn't know. It was stupid. Kusu-kusu floated by her side and kept looking between her and her cupboard. "Don't you think you should be getting ready Rima?"

Rima ignored her guardian character went to her open her window. The rain was coming down heavily. A bolt of lightning flashed across the sky, lighting the area brightly for a moment, before it returned to being dim and misty. Rima winced as she heard the thunder's loud rumble. If rain was supposed to be the heaven's crying, this must be heaven having burst into tears and wailing like a little child. Rima scowled and shut her window. Even the sky was managing to worsen her mood.

She opened the door of her cupboard which creaked loudly. For some reason that Rima could not guess, her old cupboard was moved to her dad's house when her mum insisted on getting a new one. Her eyes scanned the contents of the cupboard when her eyes settled on a simple white dress. It was a sleeveless dress made of a soft fabric, with a ribbon that could tied at the back. She reached out and held onto the loose piece of ribbon. This wasn't one that her dad had bought. Not by himself at least. Both her parents had bought it for her.

xxxx

Rima had just got back from school. It wasn't from Seiyo Elementary; this was before she had transferred. This was when her mother still picked her up from school in her car. It was her birthday, and her parents had not said one thing about it. Not even when she came back from school with the car's trunk full of presents she received from all the boys in her class. She didn't really care about those.

The only comfort was that Kusu-Kusu was someone who remembered that Rima actually cared about.

She refused to mention it by herself. If her parents were going to ignore her birthday, then so be it. She walked to her house, while her mum locked the car. Her dad was home early, which she found strange as her dad was always complaining about losing time at work. She heard the jingle of keys as her mum put it on the table by the door.

"Rima, come here," her dad said in a voice that one did not sound strained and stressed. It was a rather happy voice, Rima thought.

"Did you manage to get it?" her mum asked her dad. Her dad nodded, and Mrs. Mashiro went into the kitchen.

Rima's spirit lifted. _Could it be? Did they remember-?_

Just then, Rima's mum came out of the kitchen holding a cake with lit candles. Rima smiled, a genuine smile that she had not used in a long time. Her mum placed the cake on the table and nudged Mr. Mashiro's shoulder. Mr. Mashiro cleared his throat and her parents started singing 'Happy Birthday' to her.

The sight of her parents, in their stiff, neat business suits, singing in their out-of-tune voices was too much for Rima. She giggled uncontrollably and when they finished she gave them both a hug. They, for once, also smiled back at her.

It was a rare moment of pleasant peace between the family who ate the blackforest cake while Rima told them about her day. She did not mention the presents and talked about her science class instead, where she managed to get an A for a surprise test.

Her dad then took out a red box with a gold ribbon that tied it together. Rima tugged open the ribbon and opened the box, where the white dress was, neatly folded.

"Try it on for us," her mother suggested excitedly.

Rima quickly went to the nearest bathroom to change there. When she got out to show her parents though, she found that her dress was too big for her, the top part sagging at her shoulders.

Her mother frowned. "Honey, I think you got the wrong size for her."

"I'm sure I got the right one..." her dad replied, puzzled.

"Well, you obviously didn't, we'll have to exchange it."

"The shop said this was the last one in stock."

"Then why did you get this one?"

"I told you I got the right size."

Rima frowned. _No, not now, not today. Please don't fight._

"If you did then it would fit her! Now what are we going to do!"

"You can buy her a new one!"

_Stop it... _"I-it's okay. It looks funny doesn't it? Look Mama, Papa-"

"You say that as if I have lots of money, I work hard, I am the one who has to spare my time to pick up our daughter."

"We both know my work is more important. Who puts the food on the table every day?"

"I do!"

_It's funny...don't find. Why can't you laugh?_

"Character change!"

Marks appeared on Rima's face and she stood on top of the table, snapping her parents out of the argument. "Ohoho, I think this dress is too big for me. I must look like a rabbit."

Kusu-kusu giggled. "Is that so? Maybe you look like a mouse?"

Rima nodded. "Yes! Not a rabbit but a mouse. I want some cheese now."

"Watch out, a cat might get you!"

"A cat? The ones that go nya-"

"_Rima_, get down from there this instance," Ms. Mashiro demanded, looking furious. "What is the meaning of this behaviour.

"I-I just wanted to make you l-lau-"

"Don't be ridiculous! Acting like that is a waste of time," Mr Mashiro agreed. "You should do something more useful."

"Go study. You have more tests coming up, won't you?"

Rima didn't know what to say. The atmosphere had completely changed again. "Y-yes, Papa, Mama..."

She ran up to her room, hiding the tears that were threatening to fall at any second. She took off her dress and threw it on the floor. She swore never to wear it again.

xxxx

Now Rima found herself wearing that same dress, forgetting the promise she made to herself. It fit her perfectly now. She looked herself in her life-sized mirror. She didn't look like a mouse or a rabbit. She looked pretty, in that simple white dress. Kusu-kusu brought over a black head-band with a ribbon on it.

"Kusu-kusu," she murmured quietly. "Do you think it's okay to wear this?"

"I think it looks great!" Kusu-kusu was as enthusiastic as usual.

That was what she liked best about her character. Whenever she was not feeling all too well Kusu-kusu would always look at the brighter side of things and tried to laugh. That kind of person was who Rima wanted to be. "Let's go downstairs."

She just hoped wearing this dress didn't have the same effects as the last time.

XOXO

"Ahh!" the pink-haired girl screamed, as she heard the loud bang of thunder, and gripped at Nagihiko's shirt. It was lucky that Nagihiko was holding the umbrella, or the two would be drenched with water by now. After a few seconds, Amu let go of Nagihiko and apologised profusely.

"It's okay, you're scared of thunder right?"

Amu laughed nervously. "Not exactly scared, but it kind of shocked me there."

"Amu-chan's being stubborn again," Miki observed, before dodging Amu's hand who tried to grab at her. "We're home, Amu-chan."

Amu looked around and seemed to notice her house for once. "Oh you're right!" Nagihiko walked her to the doorstep. "Thanks a lot Nagi." She gave Nagihiko a quick hug before she closed the door.

The basketball player turned to leave, though he gave one more uncertain glance back at the door. After his conversation with Kukai, he was starting to feel really bad about deceiving Amu. Would she prefer him to tell the truth? He knew Rima would. Rima hated liars. It took her long time to finally become friends with Nagihiko because of that. If she knew about now...she probably wouldn't ever look at him ever again.

_It's not like she has the right to do that,_ Nagihiko thought, _I'm sure she has lied before. Her fake crying would count as a lie. _ Nagihiko smirked. _I'll tell her that next time she tries to use that trick. She knows that it doesn't work when I'm around anyway. _

"Welcome home Nagihiko-sama," his old caretaker greeted as he stepped into his house. "How is the young master today?"

"I'm doing okay, Mizuki-san," Nagihiko replied politely. Mizuki had been with the Fujisaki family long before Nagihiko had been born, and she took care of Nagihiko ever since he was a child. He was closest to her out of all the employees his parents had hired and she held the highest authority above all the servants.

"Your mother requested your presence in the rehearsal room," informed Mizuki.

Nagihiko nodded and proceeded towards the rehearsal room as Mizuki chose to call it. He spent more time in there than he did in his own room. It was a wide space witha small platform where you could perform and curtains were drawn up. He looked into the room and saw his mother, sitting on the floor with her eyes closed looking as if she was meditating. His mother liked to do this whenever she could; she told him that it calmed her. He wondered whether he should leave when she spoke. "Come and sit."

He sat down facing her and she opened her eyes. "You seemed to be troubled by something."

He gazed at the floor; his mother could always read expressions easily. Still, he said, "I think you might have been meditating for too long Okaa-san."

"Perhaps," she said. "Nagihiko, the reason I called you here is that..." She gave him a knowing smile. "Your Papa is here early."

Nagihiko froze. "You don't mea-"

"**It's SHOW TIME**," a voice announced from behind the curtains onstage. Nagihiko actually tried to run out the room but his mum grabbed his wrist and forced him to sit down.

"Yay!" both his charas shouted, much to his annoyance.

The curtains swung open. And there stood his dad, with white studded trousers and a white top and hair styled to look like...Elvis Presley, the American singer.

"**You ain't nothin but a hound-dog, cryin all the time!"** his dad sung, or rather howled into a microphone, his accent making it worse.

This was the reason that he never invited his friends over when his dad was around. He might die of embarrassment if they saw him. He was the complete opposite of Nagihiko, loud, impatient, and very into rock. Nagihiko wondered time and time again how, being from the Fujisaki family, his dad had managed to live as a girl for most of his childhood without being discovered. Nagihiko bet his dad peeked at the girls when they were changing. He of course certainly did _not_. And besides, his dad was always singing songs with English lyrics when he probably had no idea what the lyrics meant.

"Bravo darling!" Mrs. Fujisaki cheered, clapping when he had finished.

Again, he wondered how his mother ever came to marry a guy like this.

"Hey my young offspring, you should be cheering for me-" Mr. Fujisaki stopped mid-sentence and jumped off-stage and peered closely at Nagihiko. He pointed a finger accusingly at Nagihiko. "You are becoming a man!"

"A man?"

"Yes! Soon you will no longer be able to perform as a woman. It saddens me so."

Nagihiko felt a vein throb in his temple. Another thing about his dad was that he always made fun of Nagihiko performing as a woman...even though he was the one who made him do it. "Tradition!" he had called it.

Nevertheless, Nagihiko felt relieved that he could soon stop playing female roles...the dresses were starting to get uncomfortable and he got more and more self-conscious about it.

"My lovely wife, I must ask you to leave us for a moment, Nagihiko and I are going to have a man to man talk," exclaimed in an overdramatic sorrow, kneeling and holding both of his wife's hands. "If we never meet again, know that I have and will always love you."

Mrs. Fujisaki giggled and complied.

Nagihiko and his characters sweat-dropped.

"Now, now, it's been a long time since we've had a good long conversation." Mr. Fujisaki pulled Nagihiko up and put a shoulder around him. "How has my favourite son been doing?"

"I'm your _only_ son," Nagihiko muttered. "And I've been doing the same as usual as you should know."

"So you say," Mr. Fujisaki muttered then gave Nagihiko a knowing wink. "I heard you have a girlfriend now."

Nagihiko turned completely red. How did his _dad_ of all people know? Nagihiko didn't try to hide his relationship but he wasn't all that comfortable talking to his dad about it.

"But what my sources tell me, you're having a few problems."

"What sources?" Nagihiko exclaimed. Who besides his characters knew? There was Kukai but he wouldn't...would he. Kukai had met his dad once when they were all at the school athletic meet where his dad came. _Kukai wouldn't have said anything...what am I saying? This is Kukai I'm talking about. I'll have a talk with him later..._

"Ah, young love," his dad continued, as if he didn't hear Nagihiko. "I remember when I first met your mother, we were instantly in love!"

"Didn't she hit you with an umbrella because she thought you were stalking her?" Nagihiko mused.

Mr. Fujisaki sobbed. "My son is so cruel to me!"

_He's even more dramatic than me. _

"But!" he said, recovering quickly. "What a man must do," he thumped a fist at his chest, "is to follow his heart."

Nagihiko blinked. For once...that sounded like good advice. But was following his heart the right thing to do, for everyone.

As if his father could read his mind, he nodded. "To follow the heart might take long, but it must be done. As a Fujisaki your judgement must be right."

Nagihiko nodded. "Yes, Otou-san."

"That's the spirit! My offspring must follow in my footsteps, and then you will be great! Hahaha!"

Nagihiko did a face-palm, his dad had to ruin the moment, didn't he? But then he smiled, he would keep his dad's advice, for later.

XOXO

"Tadase, my cape is all wet!" Kiseki complained. Tadase had opened his umbrella a bit too slow for Kiseki's liking, so of course the little king was bound to complain.

"A little rain won't hurt you," Tadase reasoned as Kiseki floated close to him, so as to not get wet again.

"It has the potential to," Kiseki grumbled.

Tadase merely laughed. To be honest his character could be quite amusing at times. He knew that the other characters often viewed Kiseki as bossy and selfish, but Tadase knew that Kiseki meant well.

Kiseki suddenly stopped floating forwards and stared across at a small figure across the road. "Isn't that Hinamori Ami?"

Tadase's head shot up and he stared. It did look like it was Ami, and she didn't have an umbrella with her. He ran towards the young girl and raised the umbrella over her. She looked up in surprise.

"Oh, hi Tadase-nii-san." She smiled at him pleasantly, even though she was visibly shivering.

"What are you doing out here alone?" Tadase asked, concerned.

"I had to stay back at school because I had a singing lesson...but I think Onee-chan forgot to pick me up."

Tadase frowned; it was certainly like Amu to be forgetful at times. "I'll walk you home Ami-chan."

"Thank you!" Ami hummed a happy tune while they walked back. Tadase was still worried about how wet Ami was; she might catch a cold this way.

Amu answered the door when the bell rang and gasped when she saw Ami. She had realized that she had forgotten.

"Hi Onee-chan! Tadase-nii-san brought me home."

Amu looked at Tadase, only now registering that he was there. "Oh, thank you Tadase-kun."

Tadase shook his head, smiling politely. "It's no problem."

"Hey, can Tadase-nii-san stay and have tea with us?" Amu looked at Ami astonished but Ami smiled. "Tadase-nii-san hasn't been here in a long time! I also wanted to play with Kiseki-sama."

Amu and Tadase both sweat-dropped, Ami hadn't changed at all.

"I am not to be played with," Kiseki said indignantly. "I am a king!"

"Kiseki!" Amu's charas said in unison, floating over.

"Why don't you stay? After all a king must check up on his subjects right?" Dia said sweetly, though Amu knew that the charas just wanted Kiseki here so they could have a break on Ami.

Kiseki seemed to react to the king reference though, and somehow it was decided that Tadase and Kiseki would be staying over for a while. Amu made Ami go upstairs to change while she went to the kitchen and prepared some tea.

Tadase looked around the living room and a small smile formed on his lips, it was exactly the same as it had always been. He thought he heard a thud from upstairs, which was perfectly normal for the Hinamori residence. Amu came back a few minutes later and placed the tea tray on the table.

He thanked her and took a sip of tea. Both of them said nothing, it seemed like they couldn't find anything to say. Finally, Amu broke the silence.

"I'm...a horrible sister aren't I?" She was speaking more to herself than Tadase. "She could've gotten fever from being out in the rain like that."

Tadase shook his head. "We all make mistakes sometimes. And anyway, Ami-chan didn't seem to care and she's fine now." He pointed upwards. "I think she's chasing the charas around."

Amu let out a small laugh. "Sometimes I wish I could be that carefree."

"What are you worried about?"

"I'm not...worried about anything. It's just the usual stuff...we all have much more school work now that we're older."

Tadase nodded with understanding. The Guardians had always been thought as amazing, but they had to work just as hard as everyone else in school.

"Ouch!" Amu had spilt a bit of the hot tea onto her hand as she tried to place it down on the table. She cursed herself for being so clumsy.

The next moment, Amu found that Tadase was by her side and was carefully putting his handkerchief over Amu's hand. She turned slightly pink as a memory of an incident very similar to this that happened a few years ago. Tadase the suddenly pulled his hand back and put his handkerchief away.

"Sorry," he muttered, avoiding her gaze.

"No...um...thank you."

"Does it still sting, Hinamori-san?"

Amu felt like something in her heart cried out. Was it a reaction to being called Hinamori-san again? She looked down and clenched her fists. "No, it's fine."

Tadase walked back to the opposite sofa and looked somewhere towards Amu's right, as if looking at the painting hanging there.

_Maybe...I should ask Tadase-kun to call me Amu-chan again. Friends call each other by their firsts names. _But this wasn't the case with Tadase, Amu knew. It was hard to be like this. When she first met him she could barely say 'hi' without stuttering. When they were closer it was so easy to talk...but now the closeness just wasn't there. And Amu knew it was her fault.

She still wanted Tadase as a friend though, so Amu tried to speak. "How are things with Rima?"

Amu froze. Why did she just say that? What kind of topic was that? You don't exactly talk to your ex-boyfriend about his love life.

"Good," he said with a smile. "Rima-chan is very sweet." Amu felt a slight twinge at Tadase using Rima's first name. "What about you and Nagihiko?"

Amu flushed. "Well, um..." She really didn't know what to say. "Good too." Amu played with her fingers. "Nagihiko's taking me to the floral expedition this Friday..." And before she could stop herself. "Do you and Rima want to come as well?"

She felt like hitting herself after that. As if they'd want to come.

"Oh, I'll ask Rima-chan if she'd like to," Tadase said with a nod. "I'm sure it'd be great if we could."

Amu smiled, feeling relieved. "That's great!"

Suddenly they heard a crash from upstairs, though this one was much louder than the others. Amu groaned in frustration. "Ami better not have broken anything."

She rushed up to her room with Tadase following her. Amu twitched when she saw that Ami had fallen off her bed and was upside down.

Tadase kneeled down and motioned for Kiseki to go to his side. "What happened?"

"It wasn't my fault! That commoner was trying to pull my cape so I went where she couldn't reach me. She lost her balance and fell." He huffed and crossed his arms.

Tadase frowned. "Say you're sorry."

"No."

He sighed at his stubborn chara and turned to Ami. "Kiseki's sorry. You're not too hurt, right?" Unbeknownst to him, he had turned to kira-kira mode and Ami let out a squeal.

"Prince-sama!"

Tadase's eyes flashed and Amu shrank back, knowing what was going to happen.

"Prince." A dark red aura started to glow around Tadase.

"Did you call me a _prince_?" His hands started twitching.

"I AM KING!" And with that, Tadase's evil laugh rang throughout the house.

"Tadase-kun calm down," Amu shouted, because Tadase never seemed to hear anything when he was in King Mode. "TADASE-KUN!"

"Do not interrupt me commoner, I have to think of ways to dominate the world without the Embryo's help."

"Didn't you change your dream?"

"Silence commoner!"

"Remember? You wanted to protect everyone!" Amu grabbed his arm as Tadase tried to climb her table. King Mode always meant getting to higher places.

Tadase looked down at her and pulled her up to the table and put an arm around her.

"Whaa-?"

He pointed at the ceiling. "Yes! All commoners will have my protection as long as they help me with world domination." He looked at Amu suspiciously. "You will join me, am I right?"

"...y-yes! Of course." Amu said automatically.

"Good! I now declare you as my-"

"Tadase!" Kiseki yelled, and just like that, Tadase's crown disappeared and he snapped out of his character change. "The commoner is trying to strangle me."

Ami, who was holding onto Kiseki let go immediately. "No I'm not."

"Well she _was_," Kiseki insisted, floating once again back to Tadase. It was there for just a second but Tadase, being the only one who really knew his chara, saw the warning look he shot at Tadase.

His eyes widened a fraction as he realized that Kiseki stopped his character change on purpose, not just to get away from Ami. It was a good thing too. He was just about to say that Amu would become his...his queen. With a jolt he remembered that he had his arm around Amu and quickly moved it back to his side.

"I'm sorry Hinamori-san," he apologised, with a slight bow.

Amu rubbed the back of her head nervously. "It's okay." She glanced down. "But I think we should get off the table, I don't think it can take the two of us for much longer."

Once on the ground Tadase checked his watch. "I think we should go now, I don't think Kiseki wants to stay for much longer."

Amu chuckled. "I guess not."

The two went downstairs and Amu opened the door for Tadase.

"Thanks for the tea, Hinamori-san."

"No problem Tadase-kun."

"I'll see you tomorrow Am-" Tadase stopped himself. "-Hinamori-san. I'll ask Rima-chan about Friday."

Amu was caught by surprise by Tadase nearly calling her by her first name again and she said goodbye though she didn't think he'd hear her.

But he turned around and waved. And he smiled.

Suddenly all those times he had come over flashed quickly in her mind and always, he had left with a smile.

XOXO

A business dinner. That was what Rima was using her precious dress for. The person opposite her and her father was obviously some kind of businesswoman, by her black office clothes and briefcase. She wondered why she even needed to be here. She wasn't listening to whatever her dad and this woman were talking about. She found spacing out and remembering her favourite gag jokes more interesting.

"So have you decided which house you want yet?" This pulled Rima back to the conversation. The woman she heard on the phone that time was talking about a house...what was her name again?

"Yes, Midorika-san we've decided, we want number 32. After a bit of refurbishing it will look decent. Are your other clients looking at it."

"They were, but I'm pretty sure it's available for you if you sign the papers quickly."

_Oh so the this was the woman who called him...but she's his real estate agent. _Rima was relieved, although she didn't want to admit it, she was still uncomfortable at the thought of her dad getting a girlfriend of any sort.

Midorika peered at Rima's face. "Haha, it took your dad a long time! I'm sure you're happy about starting over, right?"

"Starting over?"

"Yes! I might be your dad's real estate agent but I'm also his cousin so of course I know what's going on!"

Rima's dad shook his head sharply. Immediately Midorika put her hands to her mouth, it seemed she had slipped out something she shouldn't have. Rima looked suspiciously at both of them.

"Exactly what is going on?"

To her surprise it was her dad that answered her. "We were going to tell you eventually, but now's a better time than ever." His dad smiled another genuine one that startled Rima again. "Your mother and I...we decided to give our marriage another try. We didn't think it was fair on you...and, to be honest, I've been lonely."

Rima was stunned. Her parents were worried about her? Her father was _lonely_? He only ever cared about his work!

He seemed to read Rima's expression and nodded. "I used to think work was everything, but now...it feels like there's something missing. Are you okay with this?"

_Okay? _ She didn't believe this was real, it couldn't be. She pinched herself and it hurt, so she must not be dreaming. Kusu-kusu stared wide-eyed between her Rima and her dad then tugged at Rima's hair. "Say something!"

But she couldn't, words didn't seem to want to come out.

So instead she ran into her father's arms and cried. Her dad rubbed her back reassuringly as Rima clung onto him. She held on tight, just to make sure this wouldn't slip away like the last time. That finally something had gone right.

* * *

**A/N: I know, I know, families don't usually have this kind of happy ending, but poor Rima is having a hard time so I think she needs some happiness. Plus I enjoyed writing Nagihiko's father...inspired by Isshin Kurosaki (from Bleach).**

**I've also uploaded this without reading it through again because it's been so long, so please tell me if you find any mistakes!**

**I know it's been ages since I updated, so please drop a review so I know if anyone's still reading x3**


	13. An Optimistic Rima

**A/N: Tadaa! I'm back 8D –shouts to a silence- Another long update gap, but you all know how it is! When you can't write, you can't write. This chapter is fairly short but I felt bad for not updating and wanted to put something up ASAP.**

**This chapter is dedicated to everyone still reading, especially Vi for that wonderful review of hers~**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Shugo Chara! Or any of its characters, they belong to Peach-Pit.**

* * *

Chapter 13 - An Optimistic Rima

Tadase's room hadn't changed much during the past few years. He still had the same bed, same study desk, same book shelf and even the same blue alarm clock. Of course, his guardian cloak no longer hung above his bed, he now kept it in his wardrobe and the pictures in his photo frames had changed several times from a picture of his younger self with his grandmother, to a picture of him and the former guardians to a picture of him and Amu. The frame was now empty. He had taken all his pictures when he left the town but now that he was back he wasn't sure what he wanted to fill it with.

Kiseki still liked to sleep in his egg on Tadase's bedside table even though he always complained about the alarm clock ringing right in his ears early in the morning.

He sat down on his bed, took out his phone and scrolled through his contacts until he found Rima's name. He wondered if he should really ask Rima about this, she might not be too happy about it. Still, he did tell Amu that'd he'd asked her. He pressed the call button and waited anxiously.

"Hello," came Rima's voice from the other end, though Tadase thought that she sounded different somehow.

"Hey it's Tadase. Listen, I stopped by Hinamori-san's house earlier, just to send her sister, don't worry, and she invited us to go to a floral exhibition with her and Fujisaki-san."

"What did you say?" she asked. Tadase didn't detect any sharpness in her voice much to his surprise. It was as if she was...cheerful?

"I told her that I'd ask you if you were free and if you were we'd love to come." Tadase waited for the scolding that was sure to come.

"That sounds fun."

It took Tadase a while to register that sentence. Was he hearing right? "Sorry, what did you say?"

"I said it sounds like fun!" No, he heard perfectly fine but that made no sense at all. _She didn't even sound sarcastic!_ Maybe Rima didn't understand the situation here.

"I'm not sure if you realized but it's not just a normal outing but more of a double date. A double date with _Hinamori-san and Fujisaki-san_."

"Yes I know! I don't see what the problem is. I've never been on a double date before, it could be fun."

Tadase an incredulous exchanged a look with Kiseki who had been listening to the conversation. Rima was acting very strange, she of all people should be absolutely horrified of the idea of a double date with the two. Tadase was supposed to be the willing one, not Rima. He expected Rima to get him to agree to make up a lie about Rima being busy on Friday and that would be that.

"I'm talking about a double date with the two people that we love but can't have," he said slowly into the phone so that it would be clear to Rima. "We will probably suffer the whole afternoon."

After a small silence on the phone Tadase smiled the himself sadly. Rima was probably thinking over it now. He half-expected her to hang up on him.

He did not expect, however, a small giggle from her. "You're taking it too seriously Tadase. You like flowers don't you? It'll be nice to go there...maybe there'll be some cherry blossoms."

_Kami-sama help me now. _"Are you chara-changed? Rima-chan maybe you should call me back once you're back to normal."

"She's not chara-changed!" he heard Kusu-kusu say through the phone.

_Not chara changed? But...then..._ "Are you drunk?"

"No, of course not idiot!" snapped Rima.

Tadase almost sighed from relief. Now _that_ sounded like the Rima he knew. "Well then what's the explanation for your answers just now?"

"I'm just...I don't know I can't think straight. I'm just...overwhelmed at the moment."

"What happened?"

"Well you see..." Rima explained what had happened during dinner. Tadase's eyes widened as Rima started to sound like she was going to cry. "I just can't believe it...I'm just so happy." Tadase heard Rima sniff though he knew she tried to stifle it. "And now this comes up but I just can't feel worried about it."

He regretted calling Rima now. Even though she said she wasn't worried he couldn't help but feel that she would start to worry after a while and he didn't want to ruin her happiness. "In that case, let's talk about it tomorrow."

"That'd be good."

"Good night Rima-chan."

"Night."

XOXO

Rima woke up the next day feeling very positive. She practically skipped down the stairs when she was leaving for school. It was as if she was a whole new person. Stepping out of the house she felt like she may even burst out into a bala-balance just for the hell of it. That is, until she spotted Tadase waiting in front of the house for her and staring at Rima as if she was an alien.

"Are you _sure_ you're not chara-changed?" Tadase asked, glancing at Kusu-kusu who shook her head.

"Of course I'm not. I'm not actually doing the bala-balance at the moment am I?"

"I'm not following at all but whatever you say," said Tadase with a shrug. "I must admit it's kind of nice to see you like this."

Rima gave him a small smile in which Tadase returned. A flurry of orange hair suddenly popped in between them. "Now how are my not-so-in lovebirds today?"

"Yuiki-san!" Tadase exclaimed taken by surprise by her appearance.

"Hey, hey! Rima-chi looks really different today." Yaya tilted her head to one side. "Hmm...I wonder what it is."

Rima giggled. "There's nothing different Yaya!"

Yaya's eyes grew wide. "Are you chara-changed?"

The former-king flashed Rima a small look of triumph. He wasn't the only one that mistook her mood for a character change.

"No, I'm just really happy today," she replied, ignoring Tadase.

"Really? Why is that?" Yaya checked her watch. "Wait, never mind! I just remembered that I'm on duty for class today. I've got to change the flowers right now. Oh shoot! Flowers!" Yaya sped away in what the other two presumed was the closest flower shop.

Ten minutes later Rima and Tadase entered their class to the usual chatter of the school morning. Amu and Nagihiko who arrived earlier greeted them both as they sat down.

"You look rather cheery today," Nagihiko commented, looking at Rima.

For once, Rima could look into Nagihiko's eyes without blushing or turning away. "Thank you."

Amu and Nagihiko exchanged looks of confusion at Rima's lack of animosity towards Nagihiko.

"Anyway, did Tadase-kun talk to you yesterday about-"

"Class! Settle down," the teacher ordered.

"We'll talk at lunch," Amu whispered to Rima.

XOXO

As the four of the former-guardians sat down at their usual table at lunch, Nagihiko couldn't help but feel a bit uneasy, though he didn't show it. Amu had told him over the phone about her arrangement for the double date. Nagihiko couldn't really argue about it since Amu had already invited Tadase and Rima. He was worried because he already admitted that he still harboured feelings for Rima. He was pretty sure Tadase still had feelings for Amu as well.

It was the girls feelings that were the problem. Amu genuinely liked Nagihiko and Rima – she wasn't one to always show her feelings out. She usually hid them behind a stoic mask. Nagihiko was aware of the fact that before he got together with Amu, she and Nagihiko had _something_. Whether that thing was enough to have turned into romance Nagihiko would never find out. He wondered if she also knew that there was something there between them. He thought he caught her staring at him when she thought he wasn't looking, but Nagihiko always dismissed that as his imagination. He didn't want to get his hopes up.

Nagihiko felt something drop into the pit of his stomach when he saw Rima attempting to feed Tadase some of her bento. She was smiling encouragingly at him and after some hesitation Tadase allowed himself to be fed. This was just so out of character for Rima. It was like her mask had disappeared. Was her relationship with Tadase allowing her mask to break off? Did Tadase do something in this short period of time then Nagihiko couldn't do since elementary school?

Although he hated to admit it Nagihiko knew he was feeling somewhat jealous of Tadase and for some absurd reason, a sense of betrayal. He was sure that Tadase could see, at least in elementary school, that he liked Rima even though he didn't know it himself at the time and here he was dating Rima. That was a hypocritical way of thinking, Nagihiko told himself. After all, wasn't going out with Amu the ultimate betrayal to his friend? Tadase liked, no, _loved_ Amu and wanted her back. Yet Nagihiko took that chance away. Since Nagihiko was now dating Amu, Tadase would logically conclude that he no longer liked Rima and went out with her.

Besides, Rima was the one who gave Tadase the Valentines card. Looking at the two laughing now, maybe they did really like each other.

Amu cleared her throat and Tadase and Rima both looked at her. Nagihiko sensed that Amu was feeling slightly irritated. "Tadase-kun did you ask Rima-chan about Friday?"

"I did and Rima-chan thinks that-"

"It's a great idea!" Rima finished for him. She then continued to smile pleasantly at Amu and Nagihiko.

"Did something good happen Rima? You seem very optimistic today," Amu asked, echoing her boyfriend's thoughts.

Rima then proceeded to explain what had happened the day before. "I thought that it was destined for them to stay apart but...here they are." At this, Rima looked straight at Nagihiko, who remembered that day with Yaya's brother under the cherry blossom tree. He successfully didn't flinch under her gaze.

"If you think she's happy now you should have heard her yesterday," said Tadase with another smile.

"Wait, you told Tadase-kun first?" Amu said, looking a bit surprised. Nagihiko understood what she was thinking, Amu thought that Rima would have told her first as her best friend.

At this Rima for the first time for the day looked slightly guilty. "Well he called me yesterday so..."

"Yes, that's when I asked her about the double date," Tadase added.

"A double date!" cried Yaya who plopped herself in the space beside Rima. "That sounds so cute!" She then had a very Yaya-kind of look in her eyes that worried Nagihiko ever so slightly. "Hmm...some perfect opportunities for some pictures of the fans."

"What fans?" Amu asked looking confused.

Yaya now looked even more smug. "The fans of the relationship of both you couples!"

Nagihiko felt that Yaya had purposely bounced in to change the subject and atmosphere. Although he was curious about what she was saying. "What do you mean?"

Yaya pointed to a board that appeared out of nowhere. There were two pictures, one of Amu and Nagihiko with the words 'Amuhiko' and one of Tadase and Rima with the words 'TadaRima'' printed under them.

The four older students immediately turned bright red, including Nagihiko.

"They're making pairing names for us now?" Nagihiko knew that all the other students were interested in the former-guardians lives but he never thought that they were _that_ interested.

"My reputation!" Amu muttered, still red. Rima just stared at the board although her cheeks were now faded to a pink. Tadase started down at his food.

"Haha don't get so worked up guys! Everyone joins up their names with their boyfriends or girlfriends. It's a new trend!" Yaya assured them.

At the same time Nagihiko couldn't help but wonder what would joining his name with Rima would sound like...something like 'Rimahiko' maybe. A small smile tugged at his lips as he stole one more glance at Rima.

* * *

**A/N: Oh we haven't had Yaya speak since chapter 11! Hello again :'D We've got some insight from Nagi here~ Anyway I'll **_**try**_** to get the next chapter up sooner than usual but again, I'm not very good at regular updates. **

**Reviews make me happy at any time though x3**


	14. Guardians United

**A/N:Tadaa...okay that's really not the time for my usual happy greeting. Another late late late update. I really am useless aren't I? Ah well...anyway, enough of me talking, here's the story~**

* * *

Chapter 14 - Guardians United

The lights of the long unused room flickered for a bit until finally deciding to turn on. The Easter employee coughed as he entered the room. It was too dusty for his liking. _ I know I just started working here but why am I doing errands like getting some old files? _he thought.

With a frown he reached up to get a file on the top shelf, which he was told the file would be on. He tiptoed as it was really tall and he just couldn't reach it. He jumped and reached the shelf and managed to grab hold of it. Scanning the row of files he picked out a red one. Suddenly, he lost balance and fell backwards, crashing into a table, which was already old enough, and as one would expect, it collapsed.

"Ouch..." he groaned rubbing his head. At least he didn't break any bones. He glanced at the table he just broke and swore under his breath. There had been a weird machine there and it fell too. The worker picked it up and examined it. It didn't look broken. Placing it on the floor he quickly walked out of the room. This floor was unused anyway, no one would care. For all he knew this was the floor where Easter carried out some scientific experiments which apparently failed and was shut down.

The employee was already on the elevator back to his floor when the machine started to glow purple.

xxxx

Amu and the rest of the former guardians (now including Kukai) decided that they would go to the park seeing as it was a pleasant day out. They were just about to exit the school gates when a familiar figure ran towards them.

"Senpai!" Hikaru the present King of the Guardians at Seiyo elementary, stopped before them, panting heavily. It seemed as if he had ran all the way here from school, which was quite a feat for him since he was never the athletic type.

"Hikaru-kun!" said Amu after recognising him. "It's been a while hasn't it?"

"I suppose." Hikari said after catching his breath. Straightening up he looked at his upperclassmen with a serious expression. "The Guardians need your help."

"What's wrong?" Tadase asked him.

Hikaru's eyes narrowed. "Someone from Easter has accidentally set off one of the old X-egg collecting devices." He took out his PDA and its screen displayed a picture of a machine none of the Guadians had seen before. "This was another plan that was supposed to be executed if the business with Tsukiyomi failed. That plan did fail but as you know, we didn't want to collect X-eggs anymore. All the old devices were stored in one of Easter's basements and a new-worker somehow activated it."

Nagihiko touched the screen. "How does the machine work?"

"It's based on the same mechanics as the tools you've seen before. Only these sounds waves have a much larger range." Hikaru switched the screen which showed a map with grids and there were four red dots beeping in different areas. "Each red dot represents an area where a large amount of X-eggs have collected. There are approximately fifteen in each area."

Amu looked around at the other former-guardians, who nodded. They were ready to help. "What's the plan Hikaru-kun?"

"We need to split up into different sections. I've already dispatched Rikka-chan, Sanjo-san and Izumi-san to the first section," he pointed down at the red dot closest to Seiyo Elementary. He then pointed to another red-dot. "I'll head over there with Souma-senpai and Yuiki-san. Fujisaki-senpai and Mashiro-senpai can go to the west area. Tadase and Amu-chan should clear up the east area."

"W-wait! Why do I have to go with Tadase-kun?" Amu cried out. An awkward pause carried out. Tadase glanced at Amu quickly. Her eyes widened immediately, surely that must have sounded as if she would hate to work with him. That wasn't it but still… "I mean, I think I could handle the X-eggs by myself."

Hikaru looked up from his PDA his eyes searching. "By my predictions your normal 'Open Heart' will not be able to clear up this large group. You will need to use 'Platinum Heart' to purify those eggs." He turned to Rima and Nagihiko. "This goes for you both too." He pointed to his area. "The area here is fairly close to where Rikka-chan and the others are. I've told her to drive her group in our direction so we can purify them together."

Tadase, having being away for some time, was surprised. "You can purify X-eggs?"

"Only with Rikka-chan." Amu didn't know if she imagined it but it looked as if Hikaru was about to smile. His serious expression returned quickly though. "So, any objections?"

When was the last time Amu had seen Hikaru? It must be too long. She didn't remember Hikaru being able to hold such authority. She guessed that came along with having to lead a company like Easter at such a young age. It didn't look like Tadase wanted to argue against him. Although...Amu couldn't shake the suspicion that it was Hikaru that stopped him from arguing against them fighting together. Could it be that he _wanted_ to?

"I won't work with Nagihiko," Rima announced, snapping Amu out of her thoughts. The rest of them stared at Rima, shocked.

Except Nagihiko. He also thought that Rima wouldn't agree. She'd want to work with Tadase wouldn't she_? Her boyfriend_, he reminded himself sourly. He tried to look as if he didn't care.

"I'll go with Nadeshiko though." He gaped at her, while she smiled smugly. "You heard me. I give you permission to cross-dress."

At this stage, Amu couldn't help but giggle. "It can't be helped can it?" Even in this dire situation, Rima was subtly trying to amuse herself.

Nagihiko smirked, well, this was better than nothing. "Great, I've been dying to." He tied up his hair (using Yaya's extra one) into his usual Nadeshiko-styled pony tail. He changed his expression to a serene one. "I'm looking forward to working with you again."

Rima looked taken aback for a second. She then returned a glittering and oddly sincere smile. Nagihiko could tell that sometimes Rima believed that he had a completely different personality when he was Nadeshiko. "Me too." She came over and stood next to him with a completely friendly smile.

The present King cleared his throat. "That's settled then." He pressed another button on his PDA and his limo pulled up.

"Yay! A limo!" Yaya dived in and Kukai followed her suit. Hikaru then sat down and shut the door. "Our section's the farthest so we'll take the limo to get there quicker."

Amu sweat-dropped. _Hey, you just don't want to run again, huh Hikaru._ As the limo drove off Amu yelled. "What about us? You're making us walk!"

The four could see Yaya making faces at them from the back seat.

"We should hurry Hinamori-san," said Tadase. He pointed to the left and spoke to Rima and Nagihiko. "Our area is this way."

The two nodded and started running. Amu watched their retreating figures apprehensively. Why did she have a bad feeling about this? She felt Tadase pull at her elbow. "Let's go Hinamori-san."

Shaking her head she ran with him.

xxxx

Kairi blocked the dark energy about to hit him. He, Rikka, and Izumi had been fighting for quite a while now. Rikka had been trapped by a ring of X-eggs surrounding her and this made moving them to Hikaru's position much harder.

"_One-hundred Fists!"_ Izumi, the present Ace chair blasted through X-eggs which tried to dodge. "Rikka! I need a little help here."

"Hold on," Rikka said. She grinned. "Alright X-eggs, I know you're hurt but trapping a girl is not a good thing to do. _Radiant Wave_!" A ring of light expanded and the X-eggs were forced back.

Seeing this opportunity, Kairi jumped into a better position. "Lightning Blade!"

The X-eggs crashed to the ground.

Rikka gave Kairi a thumbs-up. "And we're just getting started!"

xxx

"Character transformation: Clown Drop!"

"Character transformation: Yamato Maihime!"

After some delay from Rima having to rest from running a while, they finally arrived at the town square where a big build-up of X-eggs were. There were around twenty as far as Nagihiko could tell. The machine had worked into turning everyone's heart-eggs into X-eggs, even all the adults. Everyone around had vacant looks in their eyes and they had stopped whatever they had been doing. All those who had been standing were slumped down on the ground.

"Are you ready Rima-chan?" Nagihiko said in Nadeshiko's voice. He extended his hand to her.

She reached out to take it but hesitated. She looked up at his face for a moment. Doubt – that was what Nagihiko saw. Without a word she ran forward ahead of Nagihiko and jumped up. "_Tightrope Dancer." _ Her ropes wrapped themselves around a few X-eggs quickly spun the, causing them to become dizzy.

"Rima-chan, shouldn't we work together?" Rima ignored Nagihiko and continued with this.

She repeated this action again and again, with as many X-eggs as she could handle. Nagihiko had no choice but to just keep fighting the X-eggs on his own as well. He looked back at Rima every once in a while. He couldn't understand what she was thinking. She was fine just moments ago but when he asked for her hand she completely changed.

_I won't hold hands with liars. _Rima had said that once. Maybe that was it. Maybe Rima had seen through him and realized he wasn't really in love with Amu. If she did know she'd be furious that he was lying again to her best friend – _his_ best friend. _Some best friend I am. _Nagihiko thought bitterly.

"_Look out!"_ Temari yelled but Nagihiko was too late and some X-energy hit him. He crumpled to the ground in pain.

Rima looked back after hearing the thud. "Nagihiko!" Forgetting the X-eggs, she rushed over to him and knelt down. "Hang in there." She pulled at his arm, and Nagihiko slowly got back onto his feet. To her surprise he chuckled.

"It's okay Rima-chan. You don't have to try so hard. You…you hate Nagihiko right? That's why you only want to work with Nadeshiko." Rima's eyes widened at what he was saying. "Only, I guess I haven't been Nadeshiko for a long time, so you probably can't work with me, even as I am now."

"…that's not it. I can't hate you…not anymore." Rima's face showed a smile, but this smile wasn't a happy one. Nagihiko didn't understand what she meant. She didn't explain though, and took both his hands and looked directly into his eyes. "Let's finish this."

Seeing Rima's determined expression, Nagihiko nodded and the two raised their hands. "Queen's Waltz!" Immediately a gold light expanded from the two and enclosed the whole area. Slowly the X-eggs began to purify. Once they all had flown away, they let stopped their Character Transformation.

Nagihiko took off his hair band and his hair tumbled down. "I don't have to be Nadeshiko anymore, right Rima-chan?" When she didn't respond, he looked down and realized he was still holding her right hand. "Oh, sorry." He let go of her hand. "I guess we should be going back now…Rima?"

Rima had took hold of Nagihiko's hand again, gripping it tightly. "I don't…hate you okay? I mean…Amu would be mad at me if I hated her boyfriend right?"

Nagihiko felt relieved. For one reason, because this meant she didn't know about his feelings and more importantly, she didn't hate him. Something was still bothering me. "Rima-chan, what do you see me as?"

Her grip grew tighter as she stared at him, taken aback at the question.

Nagihiko squeezed her hand as well. "I just wanted to know. Do you consider me as a friend? Or am I just Amu's boyfriend?"

Rima kept her gaze at Nagihiko. "Of course you're not just Amu's boyfriend. We've known each other before that. We have been friends. And also…to me…you're…"

_I'm what?_

She looked like she was struggling to get the words out and if Nagihiko wasn't just imaging it, her face was getting red. "To me you're my…"

_I'm your…?"_

"…comrade." She released his hand and turned away. "We're comrades."

Nagihiko felt his chest tighten.

"Let's get going," she said. "We have to help the others out."

He felt like he was rooted to the spot he was standing. He couldn't follow her. He had felt a crushing sense of disappointment after hearing the word comrade. It was as if he was expecting something different. No, he knew. Deep down, he knew Rima was going to say something different.

xxxx

Meanwhile, Tadase and Amu had been fighting the X-eggs in the largest area. Amu as Amulet Heart threw her Heart Rod at the X-eggs to round them up while Tadase used Holy Crown to cover her. Just a little more and they were going to be finished.

That's when they heard a voice nearby. "It's…no use. I'm…no use."

"Oh no! That's one of the owners of the X-eggs, he's awake," Suu cried.

The boy's eyes looked dead. No matter how many times they fought X-eggs, the looks the owners had were always the worse. "Why? Why did she do it? WHY DID SHE LEAVE ME?"

Amu and Tadase gasped as one of the X-eggs hatched. It turned into an X-character. "Useless!"

The boy started screaming and the X-eggs started moving faster around Tadase and Amu. This wasn't good…the boy was providing more negative energy for the rest of the X-eggs as well.

"Am I not good enough? What did I do wrong? _What did I do wrong?_"

Amu and Tadase backed up against each other as the X-eggs circled the two of them with the X-character in the lead.

"Himamori-san!" Tadase yelled as the X-eggs got closer.

Amu nodded. "Hey!" she shouted at the boy. "There's no point getting upset about a girl that doesn't love you."

Tadase glanced at Amu. No point? That was true…but it wasn't as if the kid could help it.

"If she doesn't like you the same way you do than you deserve better."

He felt as if someone had stabbed him. _You deserve better._ Amu had said that before. Tadase remembered.

"I don't _want_ better. I want _her_."

_I don't care if there's anyone better. I love you Amu. _He didn't say it but that was exactly what he had thought.

"Don't be selfish!"

_Selfish. _That's what Tadase was. Selfish.

"_Get a hold of yourself Tadase!"_ Kiseki's voice echoed from inside him.

"Tadase-kun, it's no use. Let's try Platinum Heart."

Tadase felt his thoughts were numb and his body move on its own accord, moving his sceptre towards Amu's rod by itself. "Platinum Heart!" Nothing happened.

"Platinum Heart!" Amu shouted again, still, there was no light.

"Tadase-kun, what's happening?" Only when she looked at him that she realized Tadase had a pained expression on his face. Her voice softened in concern. "Tadase-kun?"

He stared back at her though his expression looked hollow. He understood the way the boy was feeling. He stepped past Amu so that he was facing the boy.

"You're right."

The boy stopped screaming and faced Tadase.

"You want to know why. You love her don't you? So at least…you want a reason. But you can't do this. You can't take this all out on other people! Screaming isn't going to get her back. Sometimes you just can't get her back."

"Tadase-kun…" Amu whispered. He wasn't…Tadase wasn't talking about himself right?

"So that's why you have to stay strong. Stay strong and become a better person. Then maybe you can prove yourself to her. Or you just might have to move on."

His X-character clutched its head as the boy stayed quiet. Tadase turned back to Amu and nodded at her.

"Platinum Heart!" they both cried out, and this time it worked.

The X-character went back into its egg, now purified, and returned to its owner. The other eggs flew away into the sky, now a deep shade of orange, as the sun started to set. Now back to their normal selves, Tadase and Amu started heading back to the meeting point, none of them speaking.

Amu's mind was reeling though. She was sure Tadase had been talking about himself. She didn't know that he was hurt that much. _Hurt by me._

Tadase stopped walking suddenly and Amu almost bumped into him. "Hinamori-san, are you okay?"

_I should be the one asking you that, _she thought, looking at the ground. "I'm fine…what about you?"

"I'll live," said Tadase, in a light tone that Amu could tell was fake.

_I should tell him why I broke up with him. He deserves at least that much. _Amu opened her mouth to speak but no words came out as she stared at his back. _I can't do it. You'll only hurt more…so that's why I promised myself I wouldn't tell you. Tadase…I'm sorry._

Neither of them noticed Kiseki's glare at the two of them.

xxxxx

"Woohoo, we did it!" Yaya cheered and high-fived Kukai. By the time Nagihiko, Rima, Amu and Tadase had arrived; Rikka and Hikaru's group had finished purifying their X-eggs as well. Yaya was about to high-five them as well when she noticed a grim atmosphere surrounding the four of them. It seemed none of them could look at each other.

"What's wrong with you?" Rikka asked them bluntly, getting right up to Amu's face.

Amu shouted and jumped back, being easily scared.

This broke the tension and everyone started laughing.

"Aww c'mon! Tell me what's wrong?"

Amu waved her hand dismissively and patted Rikka's head with her other hand. "Nothing, I just got hit by some negative energy, that's all."

Rikka completely bought it. "Oh yeah! I always feel kinda down whenever it hits me. It also hurts for a while but it wears off in no time."

"Too bad it doesn't reduce her amount of talking." Hikaru commented.

"What? Are you saying I talk too much?"

"If that what it sounds like to you then yes."

"Sheesh, why are you always so mean to me, Hikaru?"

Izumi smiled at the two of them knowingly. "Oh, he loves you, really."

Rikka turned bright red. "_What are you saying?"_

"Hey, hey, Hikaru tell her she's wrong right?"

She looked over at Hikaru, who was busy on his PDA"…Sorry, I stopped paying attention at 'sheesh'."

Rikka frowned. "See! See! He doesn't even listen to me!"

Kairi sighed exasperatedly and turned to the former-guardians. "This is what I have to put up with everyday. Honestly, even I'm having trouble keeping up with organisation."

"Class Prez having trouble with organisation? I should visit you guys some more," Kukai said with a wink.

More laughter broke out. Rima, Nagihiko, Amu and Tadase were for once thinking the same thing. It would be easier if they could all just go back to their guardian days. It was all so simple then. Much simpler than anything going on now, anyway.

xxxx

"Bala-balance!" the small clown cried. Pepe joined Kusu-kusu while Suu giggled at the pair. Ran and Daichi were holding another mini-race against each other, now joined by Rhythm while Temari cheered on. Miki was focused intently on her drawing, glancing up every once in a while. Dia on the other hand floated up to an irritated looking Kiseki.

Kiseki had called all the guardian characters together for a meeting. He tried getting their attention a few times but to no avail. Dia, feeling that this might be an important matter spoke up. "Everyone! Kiseki has something to say!"

Immediately the other characters quietened down and looked at the two. The king character, upon suddenly finding himself actually being paid attention to, cleared his throat. "I've called all you commoners here today to discuss about -"

"Hey! Why is our meeting in the park?" Ran interrupted. "Why couldn't we have it in Tadase-kun's house or Amu-chan's house?

"Don't interrupt your king!" Kiseki snapped. "And we're here because I don't want Tadase and the others to overhear us."

Suu tilted her head to one side. "Why can't the others hear this-desu?"

"I'm getting there," Kiseki replied looking more annoyed at the further interruption. "As I was _saying_ we're here to talk about the current problem between our bearers."

Kusu-kusu looked at Kiseki in alarm. He couldn't! Kusu-kusu had not said anything around Amu's and Nagihiko's characters, for the sake of Rima. Pepe had not mentioned anything about the current situation either; even she had enough tact for that.

Daichi, Rhythm and Temari glanced at each other. It couldn't be that Kiseki knew about the conversation Nagihiko and Kukai had the other day. Was he perhaps there?

"Kiseki, I really don't think we should..." Kusu-Kusu stopped at Kiseki's silencing glare.

"Why not? Don't tell me you can ignore how your bearer has been feeling. As their guardian characters it's our duty to protect them." At this he glared at Amu's guardian characters.

"What are you looking at us for?" Ran said defensively.

"Keep your bearer away from Tadase." The other characters stared at Kiseki in shock.

"It's not for us to make decisions for Amu-chan," Miki argued. "Amu-chan wants to be friends with Tadase-kun. Why can't they?"

"Because it's hurting him!" Kiseki shouted, looking enraged. "You were there today. That commoner plans to spend a day with Fujisaki, Rima and Tadase. Do you think he can handle that?" He paused, waiting for a reply. "_Well?"_

"And you," he said, looking accusingly at Kusu-Kusu. "You're worried about Rima too, aren't you?"

"What's wrong with Rima-chan?" Suu questioned.

Kusu-kusu fidgeted. "There's nothing wrong!"

"Yes there is!" Kiseki insisted.

"Kiseki." Dia put a hand on his shoulder. "That's enough." She looked out over all the characters. "I know what's going on with all your bearers." The rest looked at her in shock.

"How?" they all asked.

She shrugged. "I've always been the one who can sense these things. From what I know…I think it's best just to leave it alone. Our owners need to learn how to solve their own problems or they'll never grow, and our job is to help them to that. So we just have to stand by and let them be."

"But Tadase…"

"He'll be fine." Dia smiled at Kiseki reassuringly. "Don't tell any of the bearers more than they already know. It's going to work out in the end. I have a feeling that's going to be soon."

"But when?" Ran demanded.

Feeling as though she might as well give them one hint, Dia said, "When the flowers are all blooming around us."

* * *

**A/N: Somehow the title of this chapter doesn't fit at all. Since it's all emo and stuffs. Maybe I've been watching too much football (soccer) xD If anyone is wondering why I've introduced the random character 'Izumi' it's just because I need someone to fill in the Ace's chair and I've always wanted to use that name. She's not an important character, in any case. I promise you the next chapter will be the date and some...interesting things will happen. Depending on how you look at it, that is. Oh and if any of my readers also watch/read Fairy Tail and like Gerza...read chapter 264 if you haven't already. It's Gerza gold I tell, you, gold! I think I'm in a good enough mood because of that chapter to start writing the next chapter for this story. Hope you enjoyed the chapter, please review!**


	15. Flowers

**A/N:Tadaa- Some of you might be thinking: An update? Within a month? THE WORLD HAS ENDED. I wrote this before school started so you guys got a (late)New Year's present! 8D**

* * *

Chapter 15 - Flowers

Rima did not want to be here. Whatever spirit that had possessed her to think it would be okay to go on a double date here must have been crazy. She just couldn't meet Nagihiko today, not after she nearly told him that she liked, no, loved him. She inwardly cursed herself again. Rima wasn't sure if Nagihiko knew what she was going to say. Hopefully he didn't. If he did, Rima might as well crawl into a hole right now. Of course, she had wanted to stay home and call Amu to say she was sick, but that would just make Nagihiko suspicious if he didn't know what she was going to say.

Her train of thought was interrupted when a certain blond boy tapped her shoulder. "I see you made it Rima-chan!" Tadase smiled brightly at her. Something about it was off though. Rima could tell that he was just as apprehensive about the situation as she was. She didn't know what happened while he was fighting X-eggs with Amu but something told her that whatever it was, it really affected the former-King's chair.

Rima scanned the area for any sign of Amu or Nagihiko. A lot of people came to the exhibition to admire the flowers, and most of them were also couples. It wasn't too packed though, which relieved Rima; she hated it when it was too crowded. Her height tended to make it harder to get noticed when she was trying to order food from stalls.

She noticed that Tadase didn't try to strike up any kind of friendly conversation like he usually did. It made her even more nervous. This was a _flower_ exhibition. This was supposed to be Tadase's element. If even the flowers couldn't cheer him up she doubted anything she could come up with would help.

Finally, after another ten minutes of waiting, Amu and Nagihiko walked through the entrance together, hand in hand. Nagihiko raised a hand and waved the exhibition guide he was holding as they headed towards them. "I've got the guide so that we can know what's going on in this maze."

"A maze?" Rima looked around once again and realized that the tall hedges had several different openings.

"Yes! Isn't it cool? We'll get to see loads of flowers as we walk through it," Amu chirped.

Rima nodded. "That'll be great!" Don't look at Nagihiko, don't look at Nagihiko, she repeated in her head.

"And if we get to the middle there's supposed to be a special arrangement there." The sound of his voice made Rima look up at him. Her body just didn't want to cooperate with her. Her heart beated slightly faster as she saw him smiling warmly at her.

"So, shall we get going?" Tadase suggested with that same faked-smile from before. Rima was slightly startled, after not hearing Tadase talk for a while.

"Sure," said Amu in reply. She didn't look at Tadase when she said it though, Rima noticed.

The two couples started on the path on the left of the entrance, flowers of all sorts of colours covered the hedges. Rima gasped at the sight of them and stopped to look up at the towering spectacle.

"According to the guide, the flowers grew naturally on this hedge," she heard Nagihiko say, but she didn't turn around. Walking right up next to her he tried to catch her eye. "Don't you think it's pretty?"

"What's it to you?" said Rima, on her guard.

Nagihiko shrugged as if it didn't really matter. He then went back to Amu's side and started talking to her about the flowers as well. Rima clenched her fists. She didn't know what Nagihiko was thinking anymore.

They passed by many different flowers creeping along the hedges (of which Rima couldn't be bothered to remember their names) until they reached a dead end. It was an unusual dead-end though, since it was an enclosed space with a long wooden table in the middle of it with two ladies standing behind them. The table was intricately carved with vines running down its legs. There were a few other people already in the room, and they were standing or sitting in front of the table, working on what looked like a chain of flowers to Rima.

"Hello," the brunette lady greeted them. She held up a flower chain that was connected to have a shape of a heart. "At this area you can make flower-hearts. Once you give your flower-heart to someone it's said you'll be together forever." How cheesy can you get? Rima thought.

Amu on the other hand thought that it was really romantic. Her eyes widened and she looked at the others. "Can we give it a try?"

Nagihiko sighed, but smiled. "No harm in trying right?" He gave Rima a small look that told her he knew she thought this would be pointless.

Giving him a second-long glare, she sat down in the seat next to where Amu had settled, with Tadase sitting down on her other side.

"Wonderful," said the lady clapping her hands together. "Before I forget, the person who you give the flower-heart to must also give you a flower-heart in return for the magic to work!"

Rima could just hold herself back from rolling her eyes at the word 'magic'. The guardian characters seemed to be into it though, since they were getting flowers to the basket to give to their bearers. Rima smiled inwardly when she saw a girl looking over the basket and blinking, probably wondering if it was her imagination that flowers seemed to be floating out of the basket.

She saw Amu was looking down at the chain, frustrated as her colours didn't seem to be matching. Miki was trying to give her tips while Amu stubbornly insisted she didn't need help. Nagihiko was working pretty fast and was almost done, the colours were decent as well.

The one who caught her most attention was Tadase, though. He was looking down at his chain with an utmost concentration, arranging the flowers so that they complimented the ones they were next to.

Rima looked down at hers; she had finished first because she didn't give any thought about it and just put the flowers she first saw in the chain. Tadase's hard work almost made her feel guilty. Almost, but not quite.

The lady over-seeing the area helped put the ends of the chain together so they stayed in a heart shape. Rima wasn't really paying attention to how that was done. She was busy trying to find Kusu-kusu who had fallen into a pile of red flowers.

"Should we exchange our flowers now?" Amu asked the three eagerly.

"I think I want to keep mine for a bit longer," said Tadase. The smile as he looked down at his flowers wasn't faked. Rima could tell that he was proud of his work.

She saw Amu smile at Tadase's expression. "Alright then!" Now she wondered if Amu had also noticed Tadase's smiles were a pretence earlier today,

"Let's keep going," Nagihiko said. "I hope we can get to the middle before the exhibition closes."

Continuing their walk, the four took many turns and ran into another two dead-ends. One had an exhibit of carnivorous plants ("They _are_ flowers I guess," Amu said). The other contained a quiz game all about flowers. Rima thought it seemed a lot like those quiz-shows on TV. Rima didn't bother trying to answer, Nagihiko attempted a few questions, and Amu just guessed. Tadase though got every single one that he was asked right.

Amu crossed her arms. "Ahh! That was really hard! How was I supposed to know how many seeds a Sunflower produces in a month?"

Ran giggled. "Tadase-kun got that answer right."

"Yeah but Tadase's a genius at flowers," she retorted.

Rima watched the two of them, amused. Tadase also seemed like he was about to smile.

They reached another junction soon later. "I think we've nearly reached the middle," Nagihiko said.

"Couldn't that guide have included, I don't know, a _map_ in that thing?" Rima complained. She was getting tired of all this walking. All the guide seemed to have was millions of 'Did you know?' facts.

Ignoring that question, Nagihiko pointed to the path that carried straight on. "I think we should try this one. The hedge on this path is more decorated than the other one."

The others agreed, but just then they heard Kiseki cry out. "No, let go of me!"

A little girl with two pony-tails had grabbed onto Kiseki and was poking him. "It's a garden fairy!"

"I am a king and I insist you put me down," Kiseki yelled.

This just made the little girl smile wider."A king fairy! And a cheerleader fairy too!" She grabbed Ran in her other hand before Ran could do anything.

"Help Amu-chan!"

Amu bent down so she could see the girl at eye-level. "The fairies don't like it when people hold them, could you let go of them please?"

"...You have to catch me first!" She then took off on the other path, giggling to herself.

"Oi!" Amu shouted, running after the girl. "Come back here!" The girl kept running and soon they were out of sight.

"...I can't be bothered to go after her," said Rima. She really couldn't stand any more of this walking.

"I'm going, Kiseki will get mad if I don't." Without another word, Tadase took off.

It took Rima five full seconds to realize she was alone with Nagihiko. Again. "You should go too."

Nagihiko smirked. "And leave you all by yourself? Someone might mistake you for a kid and take you around to find your parents." Rima glared at him. Not her height _again_. "Let's wait for them at the centre, they'll catch up soon."

A familiar silence fell between them as they walked towards the centre. After around ten minutes Rima's eyes widened at what she saw. There was a fountain in the middle of a very spacious area and flowers were edged along it. There were pretty benches all along the area, and many souvenir stalls.

"Hey look!" Nagihiko walked over to the nearest stall. "They sell ice-cream here. Do you want some?"

Rima stayed silent, contemplating whether or not to get any.

Nagihiko smiled. "I'll pay for it."

"...I want strawberry."

xxxx

This girl was just like Ami, Amu thought when she finally caught up to the girl. She was panting slightly; this path was a long way away from that junction. She was attempting to jump and catch her other guardian characters who took care to float just out of her jumping range. "Can you please let go of the fairies?"

"I don't wanna!" the girl whined, gripping Ran and Kiseki tighter.

"C-can't breathe," Ran choked.

Amu was seriously getting annoyed. Where were these girl's parents anyway?

"Hinamori-san!" Amu turned around at the sound of Tadase's voice.

She sighed in relief. "You don't know how glad I am to see you! This girl just won't give up."

Tadase knelt down and gave the little girl a charming smile. "You said that these were the garden fairies right?" The girl nodded. "Well, if you keep the fairies all to yourself then they can't help make the garden pretty." He gestured to the room around them. "You want the flowers to stay pretty, don't you?"

The girl's eyes widened in realization and she immediately let go of the Ran and Kiseki."I'm so sorry!" She meekly ran back the way she came from.

Amu was once again amazed at how Tadase handled children. They always seemed to like him. Then again all the examples she'd seen were young _girls_. Even the older girls still fell for his charm. And older woman. She shuddered to think of the old ladies who she saw doting on Tadase while she was with him on a date one day.

Even as she thought it she saw out of the corner of her eyes a group of girls giggling and looking at Tadase, especially at his flower-heart.

The nerve of some people these days.

She quickly pushed the thought out of her mind as Tadase stood up and faced her. "We should probably get back to Rima-chan and Fujisaki."

She stared at Tadase. Why was he...looking through her? He was looking in her direction but it was as if he couldn't see her. Or was trying not to.

That hurt. She knew he still upset about the other day with the X-eggs, but to take it to the extent of trying to ignore her...

A man in a waiter's outfit suddenly walked up to them. "Welcome to the Daffodil Cafe! Nearing the end of the maze, this is your last section before going into the centre of the maze! Please sit down and have some tea that contains our specially made daffodil syrup. We also have other special items on the menu." Before Amu or Tadase could protest the waiter ushered them into two seats. "Please wait a moment!" The waiter then scurried away to get their drinks.

Amu stared at his retreating figure, speechless. She glanced down at the menu as Tadase picked up his own. She guessed Tadase intended to stay for the tea then. She twitched as she saw the menu. What kind of weird cafe was this? Daffodil tea was fine...but daffodil roast steak and daffodil smoothie sounded very suspicious.

She peeked over her menu at Tadase. The way his blond hair fell over his eyes as he looked through the menu made her cheeks colour slightly. She quickly looked down again, annoyed at herself. She was not allowed to just stare at Tadase like that anymore, she reminded herself.

Still...maybe she should say something. "Um...funny how this cafe is named daffodil, right?"

Tadase looked up from his menu and looked at her curiously. "Why's that?"

"H-huh? Oh well...you know...it's one of your favourite type of flowers." Amu couldn't bring herself to look at Tadase. If he had been purposely ignoring her before, she could definitely feel his gaze on her now.

"...you remember?"

"Of course! I mean, we used to bring them to your grandmother together," she said, talking fast. "After school on Fridays."

No response from Tadase. She fiddled with her flower-heart on her lap. _Maybe he's back to ignoring me again..._

"Amu-chan." At this Amu looked straight up at him, shocked. He was using her first name? Not only that...his eyes were determined and serious. "I know this is long overdue...but I need to know." His eyes seemed to pierce into hers. "Why did you break up with me?"

Amu gaped at him though he held his gaze.

"Amu-chan," he repeated her name. "Please..."

She couldn't take it. Feelings of guilt, pain and uncertainty flooded her. She stood up and looked away from him. "I can't tell you."

"Why?" He didn't sound angry...just...sad.

Amu shut her eyes tightly. "I'm sorry!" she cried, and started running.

xxxxx

Rima and Nagihiko sat down on the bench, eating their ice creams, their flower-hearts in one hand and their ice creams in another. Nagihiko had chosen a mint flavoured one and was almost finished with his. "There's nothing like the cool flavour of mint."

"Strawberry's better." Rima said simply.

"Mint."

"Strawberry."

"Mint."

"Strawberry."

"Strawberry."

"Good we agree." Rima held a smug expression. "I'm not going to fall for the oldest trick in the book."

Nagihiko grinned. "And which book is that exactly?"

"The book that's – whatever. This is getting boring."

Nagihiko made a mock-fake hurt look. "You think I'm boring?"

"Yes." Of course, she couldn't tell him how she was enjoying this banter. How she missed their little arguments.

"Fine then, let's do something not so boring." He got up and looked over to the fountain. "They say you can see something interesting when you look in."

"If you say so." Rima followed Nagihiko to the fountain. Her reflection seemed to have a golden radiant outline around it. She took a look at Nagihiko's which was the same. "Special effects?"

Nagihiko shook his head. "Magic?"

Rima rolled her eyes. Still, there was a kind of...magical quality to the way the water shimmered. Rima was surprised when a fish popped its head up in the middle of her face. She stepped back and tripped over a stray flower.

Nagihiko started chucking. "Scared of a little fish?"

Rima shook her head. "It just took me from surprise!"

His laughter was interrupted when two kids running around bumped into him, causing him to fall face-first next to Rima. The kids ran away, while Rima burst into laughter herself.

Nagihiko sat up and rubbed his head, and laughed with her.

Rima was glad that she could laugh along with Nagihiko like this. She hadn't had such a good laugh in a long time.

Nagihiko watched her tenderly, she really was enjoying herself. "Hey, we dropped our heart-flowers," he said softly. He picked up the heart-flower next to him. Rima soon followed his suit, wiping an actual tear off her eye. "Thanks Nagihiko."

"For what?"

"I don't know. Just...being you, I guess." She finally managed to stop laughing and gave Nagihiko a sincere smile.

Nagihiko's eyes trailed off to the heart-flower she was holding. "That's mine, you know."

Rima looked down, surprised. "Oh. Sorry."

She was about to give it back to him when he shook his head. "Keep it."

Her eyes widened at what he said. He wanted her to keep it? "In case you forgot, Amu-chan believes in the charm and she'd probably want the heart-flowers you made even though you might not see any difference."

"That's not it." Nagihiko held the heart-flower tighter. "I believe in the charm too. And I want you to keep it."

Rima's heart started pounding as she registered what he meant. He wanted them to be...together forever? No way, Nagihiko wasn't the type to believe in a charm like this...was he? She stretched out her hands again. "C'mon stop joking around. Seriously, Amu-chan will be-" She dropped the flower-heart and fell silent as she felt Nagihiko wrap his arms around her.

She was stunned. She couldn't move. "Rima-chan..." he whispered. "That day...you were going to say something else to me. I mean something else to you right?"

She wanted to say no, but she was sure he would hear her heartbeat and know she was lying.

"Were you going to say 'I love you'?"

Rima nearly stopped breathing.

"Because...I love you too."

The words seemed to echo in her mind. _I love you. Nagihiko said 'I love you'. He said...he said..._

She buried her face into her chest, tears starting to stream down her face. It was so unreal. But she could hear his heartbeat as well. It...it had to be real.

So he had known what she was about to say that day. But it didn't matter at all because Nagihiko loved her too. He was here, holding her. It didn't matter that she was in a fake relationship with Tadase. It didn't matter if Amu knew.

_It doesn't matter if Amu knew...if Amu knew..._

Immediately she pushed herself away from Nagihiko. She was horrified with herself. She was horrified for Nagihiko. "You're...you're dating Amu." With one last attempt she said, "You're lying again."

Nagihiko looked at her seriously. "I've lied to you a few times before, but you _know_ that I'm not lying now."

Rima felt a pang in her heart."If you're not lying...then why are you going out with Amu!"

He looked pained at that question, but Rima held her ground, waiting for his answer. He hesitated. "It's because she was so upset. After her break-up with Tadase I thought I could help her. But I've been hurting you instead, haven't I?"

_Yes. _"No!"

"I wanted to get her back up on her feet as her best friend but there was a misunderstanding and somehow she wanted to go out. I couldn't say no."

_You should have. _"You said yes. You have to take responsibility for her feelings. If you break up with her for my sake she'll be hurt again. Fall in love with her if you have to."

"I can't do that."

"Yes you can. Besides..." Rima's voiced lowered. "I don't...love you."

Nagihiko smiled bitterly. "Who's the liar now?"

Rima stood up and snatched her own flower-heart from Nagihiko and started walking towards the exit.

He grabbed her shoulder but she just shook him off. "Don't follow me! Just...just act as if nothing happened. Tell Amu I felt sick and went home." She started walking again but stopped when she was just past the exit. "I'm really sorry, Nagihiko."

And just like that, she was gone.

Nagihiko leaned against the exit wishing she'd come back. He should have never told her...

The sun had just begun to set, and Amu, who had been standing behind a stall, listening to both of them, slumped to the ground and hugged her knees. "What have I done?"

* * *

**A/N: OH YEAH BABY! They finally said it 8D Woot. Although Rima's confused what to do now. And yes, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE AMU? You might get an update from me within a week or two, seeing as it's my birthday soon. Anyway, I was really happy when I got some faves/alerts as well as reviews. Nice to know I have a few people still reading Review if you can be bothered to 8D**


	16. The Reason

**A/N: I'm uploading this 4 days short of 60 days. Better than 4 months right? xD Anyway this chapter might be a bit disappointing for those not all that interested in Amu's story, but I think it's necessary to understand what she was thinking x3**

* * *

Chapter 16 - The Reason

"Oh Amu-chan?" Nagihiko said, turning around when he realized she had walked up to him. "Where'd Tadase go?"

"He's coming." Whether that was true or not, Amu didn't know. She couldn't decide whether to tell Nagihiko that she heard everything. She studied his somewhat saddened expression and thought she should wait for the right time. "What about Rima?" she asked, already knowing what he was going to say.

"She says she was feeling a bit dizzy. Must be all the pollen around."

"Guess I'd better go too then," said Tadase, who had just reached them. Amu could see that he was wearing that fake cheerful expression again. "Today was fun, see you on Monday."

He left with Amu and Nagihiko waving to his back.

"You know...I think I want to go home as well," Amu said. "I'm feeling kind of tired."

Nagihiko took her hand like he usually did, although this time Amu didn't feel any warmth in it. "Let's walk together then."

"...Okay." The two walked home in silence, while Amu's guilt started building up from even being next to Nagihiko.

Xxxxx

Rima had slammed her door shut when she reached home and curled up into a ball on top of her bed. She still couldn't believe what had just happened. She was grateful that it was the weekend the next day, but she would still have to face Nagihiko on Monday. She hoped Nagihiko would agree and keep quiet about the whole thing. If he told Amu...well, it was all over. Amu would surely hate her.

Her phone rang, breaking the silence of her room. Rima slowly reached out to it and checked the caller ID. Tadase.

"Hello."

"Rima-chan, you and I both know you're not allergic to pollen. What happened with Fujisaki?" Rima was taken aback by the fact that Tadase knew something was up. Maybe Nagihiko had also showed signs of looking different.

"You're not going to like it," Rima warned him.

"I don't care. I'd rather know what it is, no matter how bad."

She had the feeling Tadase was also talking about something else but decided to answer him first. "That other day when I was with Nagihiko fighting those X-eggs, I nearly told him that he was the one I loved." Rima gripped the phone tighter. "He knew what I was going to say and he...he told me that he loved me today. And then he hugged me."

She heard Tadase take a sharp intake of breath. "You mean he doesn't love Amu?"

"No, he said something about dating her so that she wouldn't be hurt anymore."

"I don't understand this..._she_ was hurt? She's the one who broke up with me."

Rima decided to ask Tadase something she was curious about for a while now. "Tadase-kun, why did you and Amu break up in the first place?"

"I don't know." At this, Tadase sounded pained. "Today when we were separated from you and Fujisaki, I asked her. She didn't answer me." He then laughed humourlessly. "I'm pretty sure she knows I still have feelings for her now. Guess we both messed up today."

"Guess we did..."

A short pause followed.

"Hey Tadase-kun. I think we should end our fake relationship. It'll give me one less thing to pretend about."

"Funny how all my break-ups happen on the phone." Oops, Rima thought, he did mention something about that before. "Sure, is our exact breaking up time now?"

Rima thought for a bit. "No, let's make it that we broke up on Sunday – while we were out on a date. Oh by the way, I dumped you okay?"

"What? Even I have some dignity, I can't be broken up with twice. I broke up with you."

"I have my reputation as well!"

"Fine, we both decided to mutually break up after deciding we were better off as friends."

"Deal." Another short pause.

"Hey, can I still call you Tadase-kun? I've gotten used to it."

"Alright, then I'll keep calling you Rima-chan. Oh, I've got to go, grandmother needs some help getting dinner ready. Bye."

"Bye." Rima hung up with a small smile.

If there was one thing good that came out of this whole ordeal, it was that she and Tadase had become better friends. She just wished she could've been as good as a friend to Amu.

Xxxxx

Amu fell onto her bed after having her shower. There were too many things going around in her head right now. It was all her fault. She should've noticed that Rima had been hiding her feelings. As well as Nagihiko. Some friend she was. They were doing this all for her sake, just so she wouldn't feel sad anymore.

She didn't deserve their concern, she thought. It was her own fault that she had been feeling so hurt after the break-up in the first place. She was the one that caused the break-up.

She had been telling herself that it was better this way, better for Tadase. He asked her that question. The one she dreaded to answer.

_Why did you break up with me?_

XOXOX

Back when they were still in the seventh grade, Amu and Tadase had been dating. Those were one of the happiest times of her life. They walked to school together, Tadase took her out on a date at least once a week, and if he told her 'I love you' every single day. If he couldn't tell her in person, he'd call her.

Once, Tadase couldn't get a hold of Amu's phone since she had forgotten to charge it the night before. She and Utau had gone out for ramen that day and when she met up with Utau, the idol said, "Hey, please don't forget to charge your phone. Your boyfriend called me to make sure to tell you 'I love you' for him. Does he seriously tell you that every day?"

"Yep," Amu had replied, giggling happily with a faint blush on her cheeks.

Utau smiled at her reaction. "He has a good effect on you."

"You think?"

The blond nodded. "Our little prince is all grown up."

Amu, by habit quickly looked behind and to her sides to check Tadase wasn't there. "Phew."

"Does he still character change when someone says 'prince'?" Utau asked, amused.

Grinning sheepishly Amu rubbed the back of her head. "Yeah." _Although, that's one of the things I like about Tadase._

xxxx

"There you are Tadase-kun!"

Tadase looked down to see Amu standing by the door of the planetarium. She walked over to sit next to him, and gazed up at the stars. He held her hand and Amu leaned against his should.

"I never get tired of watching the stars."

"They're beautiful, no matter how many times you look at them," Amu said. Although no one else was there she lowered her voice. "Tadase-kun…is there something wrong?"

Amu had noticed that Tadase had felt a bit distant for the past month. She was sure their other friends had caught his expression too, and she was concerned about him.

Tadase squeezed her hand. "No, there isn't. I mean, well yes. I mean…" He let out a sigh. "It's about time I let you know anyway."

"Let me know what?"

"My dad got a new project and is being transferred to Hokkaido. My family…we're going to move."

Amu felt an empty feeling starting to settle in her stomach. Tadase was…moving?

"I tried to convince him to let me stay with grandma, who's going to stay here," Tadase explained, "but he said he wants me to come as well."

"Oh." That was all Amu could say. She should be saying something like 'that's great' or 'congratulations.'

Tadase held her hand tighter. "I don't think its permanent Amu-chan. We'll be able to move back after the project's done."

She couldn't seem to be able to speak out her thoughts. _I don't want you to go. I really don't want you to go. Please._

"Amu-chan?" Amu blinked as she felt Tadase wipe her face with his handkerchief, only now realizing that a small stream of tears was running down her face.

Amu cupped her face with her both her hands. "I'm sorry Tadase-kun. I don't know what came over me."

Tadase quietly wrapped his arms around her and Amu buried her face in his shirt, sobbing.

xxxxx

"Nooo!" Yaya clung onto Tadase's leg. "You can't go! I'm going to get less candy if you go."

Tadase patted Yaya's head. "I'm sure you'll be fine." Being the baby character she is, Yaya burst into tears and rolled on the floor screaming. A few passers-by stared at the girl, wondering if she was lost.

"We don't know her," Rima said decidedly, turning away from the sight.

Nagihiko chuckled then turned to Tadase. They shook hands and grinned at each other. "Take care Hotori."

"You too Fujisaki."

Also grinning, Kukai put an arm around Tadase. "Make sure to bring us lots of souvenirs when you get back!"

"Is that all you can say?" Utau huffed, crossing her arms. "What a kid."

"Didn't I tell you not to call me a kid?" Kukai said with a smirk.

Rima let out a cough to remind the two that younger kids (like Yaya) were present and that Kukai could _not _start 'punishing' Utau for calling him a 'kid'. "Where's Amu-chan?"

"Here!" Amu ran towards the group, her charas trailing behind her.

"How dare you commoners be late for our departure?" Kiseki yelled.

"Oh, don't ruin it, you useless king," Miki said.

"Useless?" Kiseki spluttered, which made everyone laugh.

"Tadase-kun…" Amu took out a small pink package from her bag. Feeling everyone's eyes trained on her, she turned slightly pink as she gave it to Tadase. "It's a goodbye present. You know, to remind you of me."

"Oooh what is it?" Yaya asked curiously.

"Shush, don't ruin the moment," Utau said uncharacteristically. The group turned to stare at her. "What? Carry on."

Tadase reached out and hugged Amu. "Thanks Amu-chan. Not just for the gift, but for everything."

Amu felt a warmness spread as Tadase held her. "If it's for everything, I should be thanking you too." Tears were threatening to appear again but she blinked them back. "Remember our promise?"

"Yes, I'll call you at least once a week."

"Awww…" Utau let out. The others glared at her.

Tadase and Amu, ignoring the small disruption finally let go of each other. Looking at Tadase's beautiful pink eyes for the last time for a long time. "I'll miss you Tadase-kun."

"Me too."

After a few last cries from Yaya and manly-goodbyes from Nagihiko and Kukai, everyone, including Amu, started heading out the airport.

"Wait, Amu-chan!" Tadase called out as she was turning. He took her hand. "Before I go. Can I kiss you?"

Her mind froze, but she must have said yes because the next thing she knew she felt Tadase's soft lips on hers. Their first kiss.

It lasted only about five seconds before Yaya and Utau came back squealing and taking pictures.

"I got a shot!" Yaya yelled gleefully.

"Send it to me!" Utau said. "I never thought this day would come. They grow up so fast."

Of course, by now, Amu was used to Tadase's affections and wouldn't make a big deal of it.

Not.

In true Amu style, the pinkette started squealing, completely red-faced and almost certainly floating.

Tadase laughed in adoration. He was really going to miss her.

xxxxx

As promised, Tadase did indeed call every week, at least once. Amu looked forward to these calls. Even if she was having a bad day Tadase could always cheer her up with just a few words.

Then it came to a point when Tadase started calling her every two days. It was understandable; they were both busy with school life and everything else.

One day Amu sat down on a bench outside school. Tadase hadn't called for a week. She wondered how he was doing, at that moment a shadow fell upon her and she looked up to see Saaya looming over her.

"I'm guessing Hotori-kun didn't call you today?" A triumphant smirk played on Saaya's lips. Ever since Tadase and Amu had officially become a couple, Amu could feel Saaya's increasing jealousy radiate from her.

"He's probably busy," Amu said nonchalantly, putting up her cool-and-spicy persona. It usually worked well against Saaya, but it seemed the girl was a little bit more persistent than usual.

"I think he's probably bored of you."

Amu nearly scoffed at that. Tadase could never be _bored _of someone. It just wasn't in his nature.

"Maybe he found another girl wherever he's at."

Of course not! Tadase was an honest person and would never dream of looking at another girl if he was with someone. Amu at this point actually pitied Saaya for liking Tadase so much yet knowing so little about him.

"I mean, anyone else would be better than cold-hearted Amu Hinamori."

Ouch. That was low, even for Saaya. "Who are you calling cold-hearted?"

Saaya's smirk broadened, knowing she had struck a nerve.

"Well, from what I've seen, you haven't shown much affection for Hotori-kun. It's common knowledge that he used to tell you he loved you on a daily basis." She pointed an accusing finger at Amu. "But I find it fishy how you've never said it in return."

Eyes narrowing, Amu had to restrain herself from not getting up and just slapping that girl. It was a lie, she always said…okay, maybe not always but usually…then it dawned on her. She had never said 'I love you' in return. Come to think of it, she didn't think she had actually said 'I love you' to Tadase since the day she blurted it out in front of everyone during the school assembly, before she really knew Tadase.

Her guardian characters had been observing the exchange between the two, not thinking it was in their place to say anything. Miki felt that she had had enough and promptly floated to Saaya's head and kicked it.

"Ahh!" Saaya yelled. "What the heck?"

Amu blinked at looked up at Saaya who was looking around for the culprit of her sudden pain. Unluckily for them, a few little boys were just across the road, aiming slingshots at each other.

"Hey you brats! How dare you hit the great Saaya Yamabuki!"

Saaya rushed towards them in a rage. Using this chance, Amu made her way back home.

Xxxxx

Amu tried to ignore whatever Saaya had been saying, but to her annoyance it kept coming back to her mind. The worst part was that some of it rang true. So she decided to call Tadase (after realising that she had never thought of calling him before instead of waiting for his calls.)

"Hello, Tadase-kun."

"Who's this?" Amu nearly dropped her phone. The voice had been sharp, and it was a girl's voice.

"Who are _you_? And why do you have Tadase-kun's phone?"

The phone was silent for a while, before the stranger decided to reply. "I'm Tadase's girlfriend."

Tadase's _girlfriend_? No! She was Tadase's girlfriend. Not whoever this imposter was.

Amu laughed. "Nice try, kid, but Tadase already has a girlfriend and I know it's not you."

"You haven't answered me, who are-" The voice abruptly stopped and Amu could here Tadase was speaking to the girl.

She heard a faint 'Tadase-kun, your phone rang so I picked it up.' Amu rolled her eyes, who went around picking up other people's phones for them? 'Oh…' Amu smiled as she could tell Tadase was confused at this girl's behaviour. 'Could I have it please, Kiyo-chan?' Hah, now this Kiyo-chan would know that it was Amu who was Tadase's girlfriend – wait, Kiyo-_chan_. He was on a first name basis with her? It took him a year to call her Amu-chan and he'd only been away for four months.

Before Amu could think any more on this Tadase's voice called out her name.

"Hi Tadase-kun! It's been a while."

"I'm sorry for not calling earlier Amu-chan, our school is having a festival and I've been really busy since I'm our class's representative for this term."

"Really? Congratulations Tadase-kun," she said, feeling proud of him. Tadase would of course be a perfect representative, he was kind to everyone.

They talked about everything from school to what they're friends had been up to and even what they both had had for lunch. Amu did not, though, mention what Saaya had said to her before.

Finally, Tadase said, "I'll talk to you again soon Amu-chan. I love you."

This was her chance, Amu opened her mouth to say 'I love you too' but Tadase had already hung up. Amu felt her heart ache as she realized that it was because Tadase was already used to not having a reply.

xxxxx

Amu got a call the next day. But not from Tadase – it was the girl who answered for him: 'Kiyo-chan'.

Before Amu could say something along the lines of 'why the heck do you even have my number?'

Kiyo sped into a quick string of sentences. "Look, I don't care if you're Tadase's girlfriend or whatever. I love Tadase and he knows it. I'm pretty sure he likes me too." What a conceited brat, Amu thought. She was even more of a brat than Saaya. "The only reason he's not with me is that he's too noble to cheat and he doesn't want to break your pathetic heart." This girl didn't even _know_ Amu. "I think it's pretty selfish of you keeping him to yourself. And I checked his phone's history." What a creep. "And you've never called him until yesterday." Well, okay, that part was true, but still – "He's told me that you never tell him 'I love you' you know." What? No way. But how did she know-? "And it's breaking his heart. Tadase deserves a person that can appreciate him." Amu held back a scream. "Not someone who can't even say three simple words."

With that last sentence the girl hung up.

Amu threw her phone across the room and it fell with a thud. She didn't care if it was broken or not. She flung herself onto her bed and buried her head in the pillow. She cried.

Cried because no matter how bratty that girl was it was true. She never did show Tadase that she loved him. But Tadase loved her anyway and she knew he just didn't deserve someone like her, he deserved much better.

xxxxx

"What?"

Amu stared at the floor, both her hands holding her phone to her ear.

"But…why Amu-chan?" He sounded confused. "Did I do something?"

"No…it's not your fault," said Amu hollowly. "I just think…you deserve better."

"What are you talking about Amu-chan?"

"I think we should just be friends." She was breaking his heart, she knew. But it was for the better. He would find someone better.

"But I don't –"

"I'm sorry Tadase-kun." She let out an involuntary sob but quickly covered her mouth. "Goodbye."

He called. He called every day. This time she didn't answer.

It was for the better.

xxxxx

It hurt. It hurt knowing that Tadase had no clue as to why she had broken up with him. He must think of her as heartless…but that was good. It would mean that he could find someone else.

She knew he wouldn't hesitate to still be friends. She would prepare herself so she could take it as well.

Amu wasn't all that good at hiding her feelings. She knew her friends could tell she was upset about something. They knew she had broken up with Tadase but she wasn't going to tell them why.

She allowed herself a small smile. At least Nagihiko and Rima had been trying to cheer her up. Nagihiko was trying especially hard. In fact she was one her way right now to meet up with Nagihiko to go shopping. She was sorry Rima couldn't come; she had a dentist's appointment or something. Oh well.

* * *

**A/N: I've finished this chapter and just realized I have 200+ reviews. Thank you so much everyone, it really means a lot to me x3 I'm a quarter through writing the next chapter, so hang tight! Happy White Day in advance xD**


	17. Strawberry Fix

**A/N: Tadaa! We've gotten to the second-last chapter~ The last chapter is coming soon hopefully. Anyway, I think you guys might like this chapter x3**

* * *

Chapter 17 - Strawberry Fix 

Nagihiko felt that the atmosphere in school today was not at all pleasant. The other students had been whispering amongst themselves in their small groups of twos or threes. Not about him, of course. They were whispering about the King and Queen's 'big break-up' as they called it. Rima must have broken up with Tadase yesterday after what happened. He guessed she thought there was no point, seeing as Nagihiko already knew that she actually loved him.

Back in their first year of middle-school he imagined that if Rima ever confessed to him he would of course return it with a teasing comment and that maybe he'd even get to see her small cute blush. He never imagined that when the day actually came it would end with them shouting at each other.

Then again he had never imagined that he'd ever be dating Amu.

He arrived in class and sat down. Rima wasn't in her seat, and if he wasn't here by now he knew that she must not be coming to school today. Maybe she couldn't face him. Truth be told, he didn't think he'd be able to face her either.

He saw Amu walk in a few minutes later and took her seat behind him. She too stared at Rima's empty seat. Nagihiko thought Amu must be confused as to why Rima and Tadase broke up. Surely she would ask Tadase.

But when Tadase had taken his seat Amu did not so much as glance at him.

xxxxx

Ironically enough, Nagihiko and Tadase had been put in charge of after-school clean up duty for their classroom. They had acted normally during the school day, Tadase insisting the break-up was mutual. Amu was acting unusually quiet today. Something was on her mind, but she didn't tell Nagihiko what it was. Tadase had maintained that Rima was just feeling ill today, and Nagihiko thought Amu was just worried about Rima.

Nagihiko wiped the blackboard while Tadase re-organized the class's book-shelf. He was unsure whether he should say anything to Tadase. He probably should.

"So…was the break-up really mutual?" Nagihiko's voice sounded unnaturally loud in the quiet classroom. That didn't matter though, he probably just chose the worst question possible as an ice-breaker.

To his surprise Tadase actually smiled. "Yeah, she was too proud to let me be the one who broke up with her."

…..

"Why did you agree to go out with Hinamori-san?"

Straight to the point for once, Nagihiko thought. "Well…she just seemed really upset about the break-up and I guess she was emotionally unstable."

"That makes you a traitor." Nagihiko was startled by that. _Traitor?_ Tadase didn't stop arranging the shelf. He didn't turn around. He didn't even sound mad. Just matter-of-fact.

"If it makes you feel any better, I met up with her in the first place to talk her into calling you back," he said weakly.

"And of course that meant her going out with you." Sarcasm. From Tadase. Nagihiko actually felt a sense of horror. "But you don't actually love Amu-chan in that way, do you?"

That was the first time Nagihiko heard him say 'Amu-chan' for a long time. He shook his head vigorously. "No! You probably heard from Rima."

Tadase stopped arranging the shelf. Picking up the metre-long wooden ruler from beside the book-shelf he pointed it to Nagihiko. "Then I won't lose to you."

Nagihiko was amazed. Tadase looked more determined than Nagihiko had ever seen him. He held the ruler as if it was it was his Holy Sceptre, as if he could just blast Nagihiko backward if he wanted to. Kiseki hovered nearby him, looking extremely smug.

The former-Jack couldn't help but smile. For a shy guy, the King could be fierce if he really wanted to.

Xxxxx

Rima lay in bed. Although the curtains were closed a ray of light seeped into the room through the gap between the curtains. She wouldn't get up today. Her mum could knock on her door all she wanted but she wasn't going out today, even though she told Tadase she would. She would go back to school tomorrow. Nagihiko wouldn't tell Amu what she said, she was sure. She wasn't worried about that. She just need some time to herself. All this worrying made her tired. She just needed a break.

Xxxxx

Amu sighed as she sat down on the park bench. She had been worried about Rima all day. But not because she was 'ill' but because she knew that Rima had been hurting just so that they would still be friends. Why did everyone have to do this all for her? She didn't deserve that kind of friendship. Just like she didn't deserve Tadase's love.

"Hey," said a familiar voice.

Utau stood, crossed arm looking at Amu for a moment before pulling her up and dragging her with her.

"Huh? Utau! Where are we going?"

Utau didn't answer her but ten minutes later Amu found herself sat down at the ramen shop Utau liked so much.

"I'll have the usual," she told the chef and then turned to Amu.

"Alright, spit it out, what's wrong?"

"What makes you think anything's wro-" Amu stopped when she saw Utau's sharp gaze. There was no getting around Utau.

It wouldn't hurt to tell Utau. Utau wasn't involved with any of this. So she spilt her heart out, telling Utau all about how she was dating Nagihiko but he actually loved Rima and then Rima didn't want him to break up with her because Rima wanted Amu to be happy.

"But I'm not happy if she's not happy."

Utau whistled. "Kukai was right, you guys are making such a big deal out of all of this."

"Kukai?" Amu blinked. "You mean…he knew?"

"Who do you think persuaded Nagihiko to go comfort you in the first place?" Utau drummed her fingers. "Kukai's an idiot sometimes. Also, it just so happens that Yaya knew all about Rima and Tadase's side of things." Utau smiled. "Yaya's not _that_ good at keeping secrets."

"Everyone knew what was going on except me…" Amu mumbled.

"The way I see it there's a simple way of solving all of this."

"Like what?" Amu said sceptically.

Utau rolled her eyes. "I'm not going to _tell _you. You have to figure it out by yourself."

"That's not helping!"

The idol sighed. "Alright, I'll give you a hint. If you want to make things right with Rima and Nagihiko again you should go back to the start."

"The start?" Amu repeated.

Before Amu could ask what Utau meant, the ramen came.

"Let's eat!"

xxxxx

They had just finished cleaning the classroom when Nagihiko's phone emitted a loud beep. He checked his phone to see a short text from Amu. 'Meet me at the park in ten minutes.' It said.

Nagihiko got to the park as fast as he could. He wondered what Amu wanted to meet him for. It could be that she wanted to see him for another date but he got the feeling that that wasn't the case. He stopped walking when he saw Amu sitting down on one of the park benches. He could see that her fists were clenched and she was looking down at them.

Walking over to her, he stood just in front of her, looking down at her. "What's wrong Amu-chan?"

For a while, the pinkette stayed silent. She took a deep breath. "There's a lot of things wrong. And it's mostly my fault."

Her tone was dark and Nagihiko didn't like it. He put a hand on her shoulder, bending down slightly. "What is it?"

Suddenly Amu looked up at Nagihiko, her eyes reflecting pain. Startled, Nagihiko tightened his hold on her shoulder. "I know about…the whole thing with Rima-chan."

At that point he let go of her shoulder and stood back up. "Amu-chan…I'm sor-"

"Don't apologise!" Amu yelled. "You have nothing to be sorry about. I overheard Rima telling you…that she loved you. Once she said it…I realised why she had been acting strange for these past few months. It's because she wanted to make me happy. And I _was_ happy Nagihiko." Amu wiped a tear that had started to form at the corner of her eye. "I was an emotional wreck after the break-up with Tadase. That was my fault in the first place. And I'm weak, Nagihiko. It's like I just can't be alone and I had to go and say I liked you. Honestly I don't know if I did or I didn't but I was happy just not being alone."

At this point Amu started sobbing. "It sounds horrible, as if I used you just for a rebound."

Nagihiko felt his heart clench at the sight of Amu. Amu, spilling her heart out after keeping it chained for so long. He sat down and wrapped his arms around her while she cried into his shoulder with repeated 'I'm sorries'.

"You know Amu-chan…I did love you. Maybe it wasn't in a romantic kind of way, but I did love you as my friend. I still do." Nagihiko let go of Amu and smiled at her. "Don't cry Amu-chan, the reason all this happened…wasn't it so that you wouldn't be lonely, so that you wouldn't cry?"

Amu wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt and nodded. "I-I just. You and Rima…you two deserve a chance together. From what happened when she confessed to you…I realised that you two really do care for each other."

Nagihiko smile grew bitter. "She won't talk to me anymore."

Amu shook her head. "She will."

She stood up. "I'm going to go see her."

xxxxx

_Knock. Knock. Knock._

Rima eyes snapped open. She rolled over so that she was now lying on her back. How long had she been sleeping? The light outside her curtains were dimming and Rima realised she had slept the whole afternoon. It must have been a while since her mum had tried to get her to come out but there really was no point.

_Knock. Knock. Knock._

"Rima?"

She immediately sat up, recognising the voice. Amu.

She hadn't been expecting this at all. Should she open the door? She didn't know if she could face Amu. It would look suspicious if she didn't let her in though; Rima got up and slowly opened the door.

"Hi Rima. Can I come in?"

Rima nodded and sat back down on her bed, indicating that Amu should sit next to her. She wished she had known Amu was coming, she would have tidied the room a bit more. Her gag manga were scattered around the floor and her desk was a mess.

"How are you feeling?" asked Amu.

Like hell, Rima thought. Emotionally, of course. Physically she wasn't at all ill. "A little bit better."

Amu frowned. "Are you really sick?" She gestured around the room. "Your room's a bit untidy but I don't see any tissues around."

Thinking fast Rima replied, "Oh it's not a cold. I just have…a migraine." She couldn't tell if Amu believed her or not but Amu didn't say anything about it.

"I came to check up on you," said Amu. Rima knew this. "But…I also came to say that me and Nagihiko have broken up."

Rima's eyes widened. "What? Why would he do that?" _Nagihiko! I told you not to break her heart you insensitive fool._

At the same time Rima couldn't help feeling relief. This meant…it meant…no more having to watch them together. She could…maybe have a chance to…_ no. I can't possibly be with Nagihiko now. Right after he breaks up with her, I'm just going to go after him? That's disgusting._

"You know, I was the one who broke up with him."

The blond's eyes widened even more. "You _did_?"

Amu chuckled at her tone. "Is it that surprising?"

Rima felt her cheeks grow ever so slightly warmer. "W-well you were always so…how to put this – lovey-dovey."

Now it was Amu's turn to blush. "Really?"

"Not as lovey-dovey as with Tadase-kun but still." Rima's hand jumped to cover her mouth. She mentioned Tadase! That subject was still taboo.

The other girl just smiled though. "I'm going to be honest here for once Rima." She glanced at her guardian characters who nodded encouragingly. "I heard you and Nagihiko talking at the flower exhibition. Rima, your voice was so sincere. I wish I could be as honest as you were all the time."

Then it dawned on Rima. "Then, you broke up for Nagihiko for _me_."

"Not just that," Amu assured her. "You've been holding back for me and I think it's time I did something for you. Friendship is a two way thing, isn't it? Anyway, I don't think my feelings for Nagihiko stretch as far as yours." She looked at Rima seriously. "I really appreciate everything you've done for me, but think of yourself sometimes too."

"I guess you're right," the petite girl smiled sheepishly. Kusu-kusu, seeing her bearer smile, giggled as well. "After sitting down here and talking with you, I've just realised. Since we're best friends I should've gone and told you about all this from the start. I'm sorry for keeping secrets from you."

Amu shook her head. "You're not the only one. I never told you what happened between me and Tadase-kun, so that makes us even."

The two stared at each other before they burst out laughing. There was no joke said, and nothing really funny to laugh about, but they laughed anyway. Rima figured it was the relief that she could speak to Amu normally again, and she was just so happy. She hugged Amu who returned it.

Once they separated Rima smiled. "So, do I get to hear the secret 'Tadase-kun' story now?"

Amu returned the smile. "On one condition."

"What is it?"

"You have to go talk to Nagihiko tomorrow."

* * *

**A/N: That's a wrap for this chapter~ Oh and if anyone is confused by the title, it's because Amu is trying to 'fix' everything and I decided to refer to her as Strawberry. Thanks for reading and please review if you have the time.**


	18. Cherry Blossom

**A/N: Tadaa! This is the last chapter of WLTO. First off I'd like to say Happy Birthday to Vi-chan, who I started this fanfic two years ago for her birthday. I'm sorry this took so long to finish, but I hope you and everyone else enjoy the last chapter.**

* * *

Chapter 18 - Cherry Blossom

Rima was small. She knew it, accepted it and was even able to make use of it. Standing at the gates of Nagihiko's giant traditional Japanese-styled house made her feel a lot smaller than usual. Then again it could just be nerves. Nerves. Yep, that was it.

She rang the doorbell once. Waited. There was a soft creak as the wooden door opened to reveal an elderly lady with a kind smile. "Ah, you must me Mashiro Rima-san. The young master is expecting you."

The girl bowed, feeling it was the right thing to do. The old lady, who Rima presumed was the Fujisaki household's housekeeper, led her through the old house.

_There sure are a lot of corridors, _thought Rima. She was feeling kind of tired from all this walking already. Finally, after being sure she'd be stuck in this maze of a house forever, the lady stood in front of two sliding rooms.

"The young master's room is here." She tapped lightly on the panel and slid it open. "Your guest has arrived."

Rima walked into the room and took a look around. She suddenly felt a lot more anxious. This was the first time she was in a boy's room.

The housekeeper exited and slid the door behind her. This was the first time she was _alone_ with a boy in a boy's room.

Nagihiko, who had been kneeling down by his short table smiled at her and nodded his head towards the cushion opposite him. This was the first time she was alone with _Nagihiko_ in his room.

She kneeled down on the cushion; Nagihiko had just poured a glass of tea for her and had put it on her side of the table. Rima thought the setting here was quite strange. She was used to sitting on chairs with Nagihiko in the royal garden or the cafeteria at school. Nagihiko seemed at ease though; he probably always sat down like this with his family.

The blond took a sip of her tea, feeling slightly awkward. Amu had arranged the whole thing. Their friend had told Rima to go over to Nagihiko's house today so the two could talk things over. She hadn't talked with him since the flower exhibition.

She wondered if she should say something first. She looked up and Nagihiko who was looking at her expectantly. _The jerk. He wants _me_ to start the conversation. Well no, I'm not going to. It's his house, he should start it._ That and she didn't really know what to say.

Nagihiko took a breath and Rima stiffened. _This is it. _"Hello Rima-chan. It's been a while since I last talked to you." He smiled at her. "How've you been?"

_How've you been?_ After two whole days of not speaking to each other (she completely tried to avoid him at school today) that was the best he could come up with? _Maybe he's nervous as well,_ Rima reasoned.

This _was_ Nagihiko though. He always thought before he spoke. There must be some reason he asked that question. Rima's cheeks turned pink when she realized something. _Amu! She must have told her I was crying over Nagihiko. Which I wasn't doing. I was just sulking. And sleeping. I didn't _cry_ over him._

"I'm perfectly fine, thank you very much," she said sharply. "And no I haven't been crying over you no matter what Amu said."

Nagihiko blinked in surprise. "You were crying over me?"

"I just said I didn't! Amu said it, not me!"

"Amu-chan never said that."

"Oh."

A silence took hold of the room. Rima finished the rest of her tea; Nagihiko had finished his a while ago. She noticed that he was gazing at her. Shifting uncomfortably she asked, "Is there something wrong?"

"No – I was just thinking – you look pretty today."

She felt the heat rush to her face. What was with the sudden compliment? She hadn't put on any make-up. It _was _Nagihiko after all, she didn't think he really approved of make-up, after being forced to use it while performing as a girl. Maybe it was what she was wearing.

It wasn't anything fancy, just a white dress, coming just below her knees and a mild-yellow cardigan.

"You look…nice too, I guess."

He was wearing a white t-shirt with a blue jacket and some jeans. _Actually…for Nagihiko that's quite plain. _His style was usually more extravagant. Then again that part of him was derived from Temari and there was a possibility that Nagihiko was now adjusting more to Rhythm's style. His clothes were getting more and more casual.

"Amu-chan broke up with me, you know," he said suddenly, breaking her line of thought.

"O-of course I know that, stupid," she said. "Why do you think I'm here?"

"I don't know. Why _are_ you here?"

Good question. Exactly why was she here? She was here to talk to Nagihiko…but about what? Both of them now knew the whole complicated story of their love lives (Yaya hung around Rima, filling her in on things she heard from Kukai about Nagihiko). She was sure Kukai had also told Nagihiko all about what Rima was thinking as well.

Rima had to stall. "Where are Temari and Rhythm?"

Nagihiko looked at the space around her shoulders. "Where's Kusu-kusu?"

"I asked first," Rima said obstinately.

"Kiseki is having another guardian character meeting so they're there at the moment."

"So that's where she went, "she muttered.

Her companion chuckled. "I had a feeling you didn't know where she went."

"Hmph."

…

"Hey Rima-chan?"

"Yes?"

"Remember what you said at the flower exhibition?"

"Yes."

With his right arm on the table, Nagihiko leaned his face on his hand. "Did you mean what you said back then?"

_Mean what I said? Oh…is he talking about my confession? Oh. _"Yes." _He _knows _I meant it. If I didn't I wouldn't have run off after that._

"So you remember what I told you, then?"

Rima blushed. "Yes." _Was 'yes' all she could say right now?_

"Then, will you go out with me?"

"Yes. I mean no. I mean…"

Nagihiko's smirk vanished. _Wait, since when was he smirking like that? He enjoyed that, didn't he._ "What?"

No? Why would Rima say no? After all this trouble there was no reason to, really. Actually, there _was_ one thing she wanted to do before they she accepted. "I want to go on a date first."

She wanted to make sure that after the date, being right now, emotionally stable, she was completely sure that she wanted to go out with him. To make sure her tears weren't wasted on him.

Nagihiko's smile was back. "Oh, that's fine then." He stood out and walked to Rima, offering his hand to her. She let him help her up. "I was planning to take you somewhere anyway."

Rima returned the smile. "Let's go then."

xxxxx

After arranging Nagihiko and Rima's meeting, Amu decided that she should clear up her own feelings and misunderstandings. It was time to tell the truth to the person she really owed.

She asked Tadase if she could go to his house after school with him; she need to talk to him. At first he was surprised, but then he smiled cheerfully, sincerely and said, "Of course you can."

And this led to her being here now, sitting next to Tadase in front of his room, where he had asked her to join the Guardians.

"This makes me feel nostalgic," Tadase admitted. So he had been thinking about the same things to.

That made Amu feel a little better and somehow gave her a bit more confidence."Tadase-kun, I came here today, to tell you why I broke up with you. I think you deserve to know."

Tadase stayed quite. Good, she couldn't bear to look at his face while she told him; she settled for looking down at her hands.

The words came spilling out of her mouth and she didn't want to stop them. She explained, everything from what she felt when he left, to what she heard from Kiyo and Saaya, and why she started going out with Nagihiko. As she talked, she felt herself feeling lighter and lighter, as if she had been carrying a heavy weight with her without realising it.

When she was finished she was out of breath, she never realised that she had been talking so fast. She still didn't look at Tadase, she wasn't sure if she wanted to see his reaction or not.

"Thank you, Amu-chan."

Her head snapped to look at Tadase who was smiling gently at her. She didn't understand. "Why are you thanking me?"

"For finally telling me the truth."

"Aren't you mad that I never told you for so long?"

He shook his head. "I told you a long time ago, I'll always be here for you, no matter how long you take."

Amu stared at her prince. _Prince. _How long has it been since she had thought of him like that?

"To be honest though…I don't care if you think you don't deserve me. I love you Amu-chan. I always will."

She turned completely red. Damn it, why couldn't she control her face just this once? Tadase's surprise attacks still got her.

Tadase chuckled fondly. "Well Amu-chan." He took her hand in his. "Now that Fujisaki is going to go out with Rima-chan, will you go out with me again?"

Amu's face-redness increased tenfold. "…I – I'm sorry Tadase-kun. I mean, after everything that's happened I don't really trust myself to go out with _anyone_." She looked away. "Actually, I decided that I'm not going to date anyone. At least not until high school."

Tadase kept his hand on hers. "High school. That's a year and a half away." He leaned back and looked up at the sky. "I can wait Amu-chan."

"…okay." Amu felt a warm feeling emerge in her chest. It was a familiar feeling that she got whenever she was with Tadase. She glanced at Tadase and she knew that he meant it. He _would _wait for her.

She then remembered something. She slowly removed her hand from under Tadase's, as not to startle him and rummaged through her school bag to find – "The neckclace! Here it is."

She took it out and held it up to Tadase.

He instantly recognised it. It was a necklace with a single charm on it, a golden crown. He had given it to her on Christmas (he saw her put it away without opening it in front of everyone else) in return for the goodbye present she had given him; the lucky charm in the shape of a clover.

Amu smiled shyly. "I haven't worn it since that day…but I kept it safe."

Tadase smiled, understanding what she wanted him to do. He took it from her and placed it around her neck, putting it on securely.

She turned to face him again. "How does it look?"

"Beautiful. It brings out your eyes."

Blushing once more, Amu held the crown of the necklace in her right hand.

_High school. Tadase-kun, I promise that by the time we get to high-school, I'll be someone who will deserve you._

xxxxx

The place Nagihiko had planned to take Rima wasn't far. In fact it took them less than five minutes to get there.

"We're having our date in your garden?" asked Rima, just to confirm it.

Nagihiko smiled pleasantly and her and she took it he was being serious. It wasn't the general thing to do to have your first date in a garden, but after some thought, Rima knew that she wouldn't have liked anything better. The cinema was too impersonal and a walk in the park was something they did on most days.

He took her to the centre of the garden, and it really was beautiful. There was a glass table with decorated chairs and a long bench on the side of one of the bushes. The bushes were trimmed neatly and there was a cherry blossom tree looming over them. She couldn't think how lucky the Fujisakis were to have such a garden in the middle of their house.

She sat down on the bench and Nagihiko sat down next to her. "It feels like we're in the Royal Garden…but more open."

He nodded. "I thought for our first date that we should enjoy the nature and just talk."

Rima was fine with that. The best way to know a person was to talk to them, after all. And the natural surroundings just helped her feel much calmer. She closed her eyes for a second, taking in the scent of the cherry blossoms.

"I've got a question for you." Rima opened her eyes and looked at Nagihiko. "When did you realize you loved me – or rather, are there any specific reasons that you love me?"

Rima's smile turned smug. "What's this Nagihiko? You need something to boost your ego already? It's nothing special really, just that you're fun to tease."

Nagihiko's laughed with good humour. Rima joined in after a few moments.

"Alright, I'll tell you." She looked at his eyes, eyes inviting her to open up. "After you were with Amu…I realised I hated it. I hated seeing you with another girl. I guess that makes me kind of selfish, but that's what made me realise that I loved you."

She tilted her head to the side. "As to why exactly I love you. It's not exactly something I can explain."She touched her chest where her heart would be. "I just feel it." She smiled. "I could tell you all your good qualities and maybe somewhere in there is the reason."

_Nagihiko, he was one of the first ones to really be able to sympathise with me. Even when I was suspicious of him and taunted him a lot, he still wanted to make me like him. I guess in the end he did make me like him, but whether he wanted to, he also made me love him._

"That's good enough for me." He put an arm around her and brought her closer to him, so that she was now leaning on his shoulder.

They stayed like that for a while, before Rima asked, "What about you?"

"Me?" Nagihiko looked down at her. "I've liked you for a long time Rima-chan."

"You have? How come I never realised it?"

Nagihiko grinned. "Because I'm a better actor than you?"

"Keep dreaming that."

"Rima-chan, I don't care how cheesy this sounds, but I love you because I just love being with you. I don't care whether we're arguing or whether we're sitting like this, but I just love being with you."

Rima giggled. "Idiot, so you'd like me even if I was arguing with you right now?"

"Yes – but I do prefer this, it's much more comfortable."

"I think I prefer this too."

Nagihiko smiled as he let Rima rest her head against his chest now. She announced it was more comfortable than his shoulder. He didn't mind, he was sure she could hear his heartbeat, and it would tell her that he was sincerely enjoying her being here.

"Just so you know, if anyone asks, you confessed to me and then I graciously allowed you to be my boyfriend."

"Oh really? I thought it went something like, you really wanted to go out with me after I kissed you."

"After you wh-?"

She was cut off by Nagihiko's lips on hers. He pulled away before she could respond to it.

"That was too sudden, stupid cross-dresser."

"Don't worry about it shorty, you'll get used it."

"Oh whatever." She hugged him.

Rima smiled up at Nagihiko, who was smiling back just as radiantly, as a cherry blossom landed on her head.

* * *

**A/N: THE END. I'm pretty satisfied with that ending, and I hope my readers are too. This is definitely the last chapter, although I might write spin-offs (accompaniments?) to this story in separate fics. Thank you to everyone who took the time to read this, to review it, to favorite this, and to subscribe to this story. Rima and Nagihiko forever 3**

**- SilentStormfall (Dina) 10/4/2012**


End file.
